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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29377833">The haze lifts</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unraged/pseuds/Unraged'>Unraged</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Screw Amalthus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 06:35:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,326</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29377833</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unraged/pseuds/Unraged</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Haze has a little time to talk to jin before she dies. one moment can change a whole lot. Crossposted on Fanfiction.net (chapters 1-5 revised)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Core of being</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So you should know right off the bat that this fic probably won't make it as far as completion, but none the less, I want to try my hand at this. this was originally going to be a one-shot (bc that's the one thing I can write), but then I thought about how things might be afected. enjoy.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So you should know right off the bat that this fic probably won't make it as far as completion, but nonetheless, I want to try my hand at this. this was originally going to be a one-shot (bc that's the one thing I can write), but then I thought about how things might be affected. enjoy.</p><p>edit: the chapter has been reviesed.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Fan/Haze pov</p><p>She was totally caught off guard when he said "How ironic it is that you would be the one to say that. Oblivious to everything. Even your own identity." she didn't get the chance to ask what he meant though, as he had gone straight on to accusing Mythra of abandoning the world or some such unfounded accusation…</p><p>So why did she feel like he was right?</p><p>And how was he possibly strong enough to resist her powers?</p><p>"How … how is he still moving?" said Rex, confused. She wasn't the only one it seems. "Even that Patroka girl couldn't withstand it."</p><p>"No it's working, his powers are certainly limited now. But Jin, he's one of the most powerful blades in history." Mythra stated… even so, he shouldn't be able to be this resistant Fan thought, even as a Flash Eater… perhaps it had to do with his core being purely red?</p><p>"Even so we can beat him! We just have to work together!" Rex was certainly an optimist</p><p>"I don't think so" what was that supposed to- and just like that he was in front of her, his sword rearing and…</p><p>It went straight through her core</p><p>Why… no how? Why Jin? I thought we were friends! She thought</p><p>WAIT</p><p>Friends.</p><p>Not just friends.</p><p>Family.</p><p>And it all came rushing back.</p><p>Torna. Mik, Jin… Lora… and Mythra hadn't even told her anything?</p><p>Her eyes widened.</p><p>Amalthus… he had used her. Erased her identity. Destroyed what little remains of a blade. And why was half her core missing? She was probably an experiment of his and nothing more. How could she have been so foolish, and oh… the poor blades she had helped enslave… Haze… that was her name. Not Fan La Norne. Haze… was utterly appalled.</p><p>"You are no slave… be free now." oh Jin.</p><p>She dropped her staff and with all her remaining strength put her hand on Jin's face. He looked sad. He was about to pull away and she knew what she had to do.</p><p>"Thank you." she said.</p><p>"Hu?" Rex said shocked.</p><p>Mythra looked down.</p><p>Morag and Bridged( Morag was a good driver for her friend) were taken aback.</p><p>Nia seemed to understand that Jin knew her and frowned.</p><p>Dromarch had simply been shocked.</p><p>"What?" said Pandoria. Zeke was on the verge of tears, though he tried to hide it.</p><p>Poppi would be crying if she could.</p><p>"Why freindypon thankful for death?" Tora asked. she couldn't explain... she didn't have the time.</p><p>Jin stiffened.</p><p>"Kill him for me. Kill Amathus. Avenge me, avenge Torna… avenge Lora"</p><p>They all seemed confused. Mythra continued her Guilty act, she deserved the guilt.</p><p>"I… I will." Jin said.</p><p>"Goodbye, brother of mine."</p><p>At this the entire party was confused. Mythra turned away. "Brother?" Zeke said quietly.</p><p>"Tell them… tell them I said hello." Jin said, and she knew he was talking about Addem's party.</p><p>She nodded. Then she closed her eyes for the last time as her vision began to darken." The last thing she saw was Jin's core. And she knew. He would kill Amathus. Hopefully without destroying Alrest in the process. And as she felt the sword withdraw from her, the darkness took her."</p><p>"Hello Haze." she could swear she heard Lora's voice.</p><hr/><p>Jin felt like running.</p><p>But he couldn't leave her there. Not after she remembered, not after she asked him to kill her abuser.</p><p>And besides, he had Mythra to question.</p><p>"What was that?" said Rex confused "why did she ask you to kill her driver, why would she ask that. It doesn't matter. I failed her. Just like Vandham. I'm weak. I'm a failure again. Why Jin what good does this do you!"</p><p>"It's not about me. It's about Haze. it's about her suffering," he said furiously.</p><p>"Oh her suffering. Is that why you offed her? Because she was happy?" Mythra said.</p><p>"You and I both know there's far more to it than that!" Jin yelled.</p><p>"Why then." Morag said.</p><p>"You all have no idea. The only person who has a vague idea is Mythra. And even she doesn't know!"</p><p>"What do I not know, other than you eating Lora?" Mythra said angrily, throwing her hands in the air.</p><p>"Who do you think killed the toran refugees in Spessia!, you think they just disappeared? No. they were slaughtered by Indol out of fear of the aegis. But Mythra had already locked herself away. Lora died for nothing. Haze and Mikhail were TAKEN. Mikhail barely escaped, became an experiment! And Amalthus replaced what little Haze would have remembered with a shell. Fan La Norne. Her false identity. Her enslavement!" jin was fuming at their ignorance.</p><p>"So how come you're not dead?" Zeke said suspiciously</p><p>Mythra looked down and whispered "Mikhail… that was you?" she was confused</p><p>"Because I was asked to remember her. SHE was afraid of being forgotten. I didn't want to do this. I was left with no choice but to."</p><p>Mythra looked up then "but how did you end up with Malos then. How did you end up with our enemy!"</p><p>"He found me. In an alleyway, I had sat in hoping death would come. He found me. And he told me who he was. He offered me his hand. And I took it. Because that was all I had left."</p><p>"That still doesn't explain why Fan asked you to kill Amalthus!" Pandoria yelled.</p><p>"Because he took everything from her. Nothing was spared. Not even her name. And her name. WAS HAZE!" Jin shouted, how could these idiots not understand. How could they not realize?</p><p>They pulled out their weapons.</p><p>"Why are you the masters and we the slaves?" he said. Not that they would listen.</p><p>He reached out for her body.</p><p>And doubled back in pain.</p><p>No.</p><p>NO.</p><p>"Nhg, why now?" jin said. He didn't want Amalthus to get her body. He had already taken enough.</p><p>"Hey now's our chance" yelled Zeke. So they hadn't listened to anything "what are you standing around for? Show that scumbag what's what!"</p><p>Then a wave of energy swept past them.</p><p>"What?" Rex said</p><p>"It's Ahkos" said Nia… Ahkos? What was he doing here?</p><p>"Time to make an exit, ready?" Ahkos asked.</p><p>"Who says we're going to let you go!" Zeke exclaimed.</p><p>"Ngh. I'm… Not ready... no" Jin said.</p><p>"Hu?" Akhos was confused.</p><p>"Haze… I can't let him have… her."</p><p>"Ok" Akhos said.</p><p>"Hey we still here!" shouted Tora shouted.</p><p>"You think this is over?" Akhos said.</p><p>"What the?"</p><p>The titan began to move again.</p><p>"How, we cut the bloody cable!" Zeke said.</p><p>"It's like a Blade weapon. As long as some energy still remains in its core… It will fight" Akhos said.</p><p>They were wasting time.</p><p>Rex's party became occupied with the titan weapon, and they made a dash for Haze.</p><p>"I don't understand why you would want a corpse, but I'm not one to judge." Akhos certainly was a strange one. They had her. That was what mattered. They had his sister in arms.</p><p>Zeke made a swing for Akhos.</p><p>"You seem busy" Akhos began, "I'll leave you to it".</p><p>Then they left.</p><hr/><p>As Indol approached the scene he felt it.</p><p>She was gone. A pity, now he would have to get things done the hard way.</p><p>His power had dampened somewhat but his core was still blue.</p><p>"So Jin finally decided to do something about Indol. Interesting."</p><p>As Indol reared up blocking the path between Mor Ardain and Uraya he formulated his plan.</p><p>He would manipulate them to his advantage. Not really anything new.</p><p>Amathus smiled. He was still just as powerful.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>well, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. feedback is NEEDED. please. I really want this to go well. special thanks to JeliBelski for getting me back into fanfictions.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. aftermath</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hello, thanks for reading this chapter, and please feel free to comment. enjoy</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hello, thanks for reading this chapter. even if you don't review I'd like you to know that I'm happy you're reading this. please give input when you finish reading.</p><p>notice: chapter revised for a better reading experience</p><hr/><p>Jin's pov</p><p> </p><p>He opened his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>He had the dream… the memory again.</p><p> </p><p>Lora being attacked by Gort.</p><p> </p><p>He wondered where the rest of Torna (group) would be now if Lora hadn't awakened him. He supposed it didn't matter now.</p><p> </p><p>Malos was staring at him through the glass of the pod.</p><p> </p><p>"Seems like sending Akhos was the right choice"</p><p> </p><p>The pod opened.</p><p> </p><p>"You alright? You brought a corpse back." Malos always put things bluntly.</p><p> </p><p>"I've been worse… but I've been better." he remembered his new promise. Killing Amalthus.</p><p> </p><p>"Jin I swear I'll make your dream come true, so stop putting yourself at risk."</p><p> </p><p>"I… I made a promise, Malos. I have to fulfill my promise."</p><p> </p><p>"Hm? To Lora?"</p><p> </p><p>He should probably elaborate.</p><p> </p><p>"To Haze. She remembered when I… killed her."</p><p> </p><p>"Ah. So what did you promise her?"</p><p> </p><p>Jin knew he had to be careful when mentioning his name. Malos didn't like it when they brought up Amalthus.</p><p> </p><p>"The death of her driver".</p><p> </p><p>He studied Malos's face. He didn't react violently though he did scowl.</p><p> </p><p>"Not a bad goal that one. I'm almost jealous you're the one who has to do it." fortunately Malos wasn't (that) annoyed about him bringing up Amalthus.</p><p> </p><p>Malos was quiet for a second</p><p> </p><p>"I sometimes wonder… this hunger I feel, this thirst… is it really my own or someone else's… sometimes I can't tell." Malos was a lot more philosophical than he realized sometimes, Jin thought. he supposed it came from Amalthus's influence.</p><p> </p><p>"Tell me Jin are you really… "here"...I don't know where I really am." he wasn't quite sure whether he was all there himself.</p><p> </p><p>"You're starting to sound like a human." Only humans were this philosophical.</p><p> </p><p>"Oh yeah?"</p><p> </p><p>Malos smirked.</p><p> </p><p>"Perhaps we're not so different after all… Humans and Blades" he thought about Lora and Haze's extreme similarities.</p><p> </p><p>"Maybe, maybe not… Mik wanted to see you" Malos said "something about the corpse."</p><p> </p><p>Ah, Mik probably wanted to give her the honors she deserved. Malos really needed to stop referring to Haze as a corpse though.</p><hr/><p>Mythra's pov</p><p> </p><p>As they had rushed to Indol, Mythra had thought about Haze… she had thought there was no point in bringing up the past… that Haze had been beyond saving.</p><p> </p><p>But she remembered when she was stabbed… likely a byproduct of the need for a complete data transfer to her and Malos… but she had asked him to kill Amalthus… and Spessia what was it that was significant about there again?</p><p> </p><p><em>"It was where the last of Addem's militia was." </em>Pyra thought to her.</p><p> </p><p>"<em>Thanks</em>"</p><p> </p><p>Ah yes… the militia… wait… so Indol killed them… she couldn't trust Jin's word though, he was with Malos after all… but Haze had asked him to kill Amalthus… and something had to drive him to the point of eating Lora.</p><p> </p><p>She would confront Amalthus and see how he reacted.</p><p> </p><p>She would have to do it in the meeting. Otherwise, she would have no proof of his guilt.</p><p> </p><p>With the world leaders watching though she would have extremely credible witnesses.</p><p> </p><p>And there was still the chance that Jin was lying…with Haze's own reaction to her death that didn't seem likely though.</p><p> </p><p>And speaking of people back from the dead.</p><p> </p><p>How the hell was Mikhail still alive… it just didn't make sense, he was a human, he should have died over 400 years ago.</p><p> </p><p>Ah, this was all making her head hurt.</p><p> </p><p><em>"Hey Pyra mind taking over?"</em> if Pyra was in control she could sort out her thoughts better.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"No, not at all."</em>
</p><p> </p><p>There was a flash and then Pyra was standing where she had been seconds ago.</p><p> </p><p>One thing was for sure… Amathus wasn't going to like this. Not one bit.</p><p> </p><p>And though the last thing they needed on their journey was a mad Praytor she knew she had to confront him on this.</p><hr/><p>Mikhail's pov</p><p> </p><p>Suffice to say he had been surprised to see Akhos carrying Haze's corpse on one shoulder and a half-conscious Jin being supported on the other.</p><p> </p><p>This was an interesting way, to say the least.</p><p> </p><p>He still wasn't sure what to do with her… he was reminded of the time they had been taken.</p><p> </p><p>She had been protecting him. They had been separated from Lora and Jin… then he had watched in horror as she returned to her crystal. He was no match for indol, but he wished he had tried harder to save her.</p><p> </p><p>In the end, his efforts had been for naught. Both he and Haze were taken. He was turned into a blade eater, and Haze… let's just say from what little he saw before he got away indol that the creation of Fan la Norne hadn't been pretty. Multiple back-to-back core cleansings.</p><p> </p><p>She could finally rest now thanks to the best efforts of Jin.</p><p> </p><p>He only wished it had been sooner. Haze didn't deserve this. Not death… but it was better than being Fan la Norne.</p><p> </p><p>And there had been no bringing her back. Her body hasn't disappeared into base either like he thought it would, that was most likely because of half her core being used to make Amathus a blade eater.</p><p> </p><p>Akhos had been confused when he ran up to him and immediately carried her body away.</p><p> </p><p>She deserved some sort of honor. He knew they couldn't bury her and he doubted crenation would work… which means they would probably end up freezing her like they had Lora.</p><p> </p><p>Jin walked in the room then, speak of the devil.</p><p> </p><p>"You ok? You were barely conscious."</p><p> </p><p>Jin looked at Haze and stopped for a moment. Mikhail could only Imagine what could be running through his head.</p><p> </p><p>"I… I've been worse." Jin said.</p><p> </p><p>He could understand the sentiment.</p><p> </p><p>Jin sighed and said "I've always thought that the lot we drew… that it was the worst thing that could have happened… but looking at what happened to her... "</p><p> </p><p>"Yeah" Mikhail agreed. No matter how much it sucked to be a blade eater or a flesh-eater, it beat what had happened to Haze.</p><p> </p><p>"So uh" Mik wasn't sure how to put it lightly "what do we do with… her?"</p><p> </p><p>"I think I'll freeze her." ah yes Jin's way of the funeral. Architect knows it was creepy for the rest of Torna to see the body of Jin's old driver. But Mik had gotten used to it. And sometimes he could pretend that she would respond when he spoke to her.</p><p> </p><p>They were staring at Haze's body.</p><p> </p><p>"She remembered you know." Jin said.</p><p> </p><p>"Hm?"</p><p> </p><p>"When… when I stabbed her, she remembered… well pretty much everything."</p><p> </p><p>"Oh." there hadn't been a way to save her without killing her had there? Ah well. Wouldn't do them well to dwell on it.</p><p> </p><p>"She say anything?"</p><p> </p><p>"She thanked me. And she asked me to avenge her Torna and Lora, by killing Amalthus"</p><p> </p><p>"Good, Architect knows he deserves it. We should have gone after him a long time ago."</p><p> </p><p>"You know it's not that simple… we're going to have to act fast, the element of surprise is our only real advantage, and he has the aegis on his side."</p><p> </p><p>"Ah yes, Mythra… she didn't even tell her did she?"</p><p> </p><p>"No she didn't. We already knew she was selfish though, it doesn't come as a surprise."</p><p> </p><p>"Yeah."</p><p> </p><p>"Step back, it's about to get really cold."</p><p> </p><p>Mik dutifully stepped back and watched as Haze's body was slowly encased in ice.</p><p> </p><p>"There, now she'll be preserved." Jin said</p><p> </p><p>"I still remember when Lora awoke her… I was surprised she looked so much like her. Still don't why it was like that." Jin shed a single tear</p><p> </p><p>"If only she could be standing with us." Mikhail said. He missed Haze.</p><p> </p><p>"Indeed" Jin sounded sad.</p><p> </p><p>"Hey. You saved her."</p><p> </p><p>"But... is it really salvation to kill? Or are we just fooling ourselves?"</p><p> </p><p>"I guess we'll find out. Better head for Indol. just need to refuel first."</p><p> </p><p>"Yeah."</p><p> </p><p>Mikhail would do whatever he could to fulfill Haze's last wish. He knew Jin would do the same.</p><hr/><p>Jin is a depressed boi as always. thanks for any and all support. criticism is welcome. thanks again for reading. have a great day.</p><p>PS random ramble that has nothing to do with the story </p><p>imagine if at night we replace the day in weekday names to night</p><p>ex sunnight monnight tusenight wensnight thursnight frinight saturnight</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Jin is a depressed boi as always. thanks for any and all support. criticism is welcome. thanks again for reading. have a great day.<br/>PS random ramble that has nothing to do with the story 1<br/>imagine if at night we replace the day in weekday names to night<br/>ex sunnight monnight tusenight wensnight thursnight frinight saturnight</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Confrontation and change of course</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Fore note WE GOT A SMASH REP PEOPLE! May Rex rest in peace tho. Ji- I mean sephiroth took her to smash. Anyway enjoy the third chapter of the story, and please comment. enjoy chapter 3. <br/>edit, chapter has been revised.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mythra's pov</p><p>Alright… here goes nothing, Mythra thought walking into the conference room.</p><p>She had already told Zeke and Morag of her intentions ahead of time.</p><p>Morag had made her agree to help clear things up with Uraya first.</p><p>Which was probably a good idea.</p><p><em>"Good luck."</em> Pyra thought to her.</p><p><em>"You're just glad you're not recognizable."</em> Mythra responded.</p><p>She heard Pyra laugh in her head… their head...this was making her head hurt… GAH!</p><p>She walked in the door.</p><p>the room's occupants were all staring at her couriously… Zeke and Morag looked at each other as if to say "here goes nothing."</p><p>She approached the table…</p><p>"A blade?... but - but that core crystal" the Queen of Uraya said.</p><p>"This is another Aegis, Mythra. Your highness has heard of her surely?" She swore Zeke threw some sass in there. Made sense. He was much less dramatic now though.</p><p>"So the rumors that reached us were true… who is its driver?" So people still thought of her as an it? Why was she unsurprised?</p><p>"If you knew that I daresay your surprise would be even greater." Zeke paused "But that is not the matter we are here to discuss, your Highness. This is a dire situation…"</p><p>"And what are we here to discuss?… Torna… and that brings me to a question." Mythra said. "How did a terror group come to use the name of a fallen kingdom?"</p><p>"That's… a good point…" the queen of Uraya said.</p><p>"Hm, they probably just thought it sounded cool or something." Zeke said.</p><p>"I can only assume so." Amalthus said. And there he was the first lie of the day. Amalthus knew exactly why it was called Torna.</p><p>"So you didn't know that Jin is a part of Torna." well two could play at that game.</p><p>"Who?" Amalthus feigned ignorance. Alright, now she knew he was lying.</p><p>"Jin? That guy that killed Fan La Norne?" Zeke said.</p><p>"Yeah him, he helped take down Malos back in the day. He was from Torna." she said.</p><p>"So then he's trying to claim their name for himself… seems obvious, though I can't imagine his motive." Amalthus said.</p><p>"So says the man who awoke Malos, and scaled the world tree." Mythra said sarcastically.</p><p>"Wait… so the rumors about the Praytor being Malos's driver are true then?" The queen of Uraya said.</p><p>"I have not lied. The words of my foolish mistake of awakening him, are plainly written in history books." Mythra rolled her eyes.</p><p>"Anyway the members of Torna include both Malos and Jin, as well as 3 other drivers" Mythra wouldn't tell them about Mikhail. She suspected Amalthus would know who he was.</p><p>"Hm. I wonder how Jin ended up working with Malos. And he's a flesh-eater." Morag stated. This might help her transition to Haze.</p><p>"Yeah, and not to mention, why the hell- I mean, why would Jin kill Fan La Norne. What did he stand to gain from that?" Zeke said. Wow, she would have to thank them for transitioning straight into this latter.</p><p>"Ah, so he was the one who killed her then. Indol will make him pay." Amalthus said.</p><p>"Hey, Amathus where did you get Fan's core anyway?" Mythra asked. She had to see if Jin was telling the truth.</p><p>"An abandoned battlefield. Why?"</p><p>Oh he definitely left out where it was on purpose. Jin was telling the truth. She began to shout. "I'll tell you why Amalthus! It's because Fan La Norne was once known as HAZE! and you took her identity away when you killed her and in's driver and all of the survivors of Addam's militia in Spessia!"</p><p>At this he scowled. Everyone's eyes turned to Amalthus.</p><p>"Wait...You're saying Indol is responsible for the death of Tornan refuges, 500 hundred years ago?" Morag's brother said, shocked.</p><p>Mythra decided to ignore Amalthus entirely and answer him. "Well, It was probably more of a massacre seeing as there are no written records of what happened to them. But yeah, he is."</p><p>"And what makes you so sure that the information this... Jin gave you is true?" the Queen of Uraya said.</p><p>"Simple. Amalthus's statements have matched perfectly with what Jin said… so unless Amalthus has been making deals with Torna behind our backs, he shouldn't know what happened, or where to find Haze's core."</p><p>"And you really think I believe the word of a terrorist? What a preposterous notion." so he was trying to pass it off as an uncredible source then? She looked at Morag. They had planned for this.</p><p>"Ardanian records do indicate a disappearance of troops in Spessia immediately after the Aegis war. It would also explain the unknown cause of the sinking of Spessia following the Aegis war." Morag said.</p><p>Amalthus frowned, defeated. "Maybe so, but what does this have to do with what we are here to discuss today."</p><p>"How About the fact that without Indol's meddling Torna wouldn't exist. And that would have been immediately after you became Praytor." Zeke said.</p><p>Amalthus glared at Zeke for the betrayal.</p><p>The Queen of Uraya scowled. "So what you're saying is, that without Indol, none of this would have ever happened, and it did happen on one of the Praetor's direct orders. It seems to me that Indol has violated international law, in attacking refugees."</p><p>"Can confirm, refugees are not to be harmed, and if attacking anyone, must first declare war… this at least 2 violations of international law." the Noppon chairman said.</p><p>Amalthus stood up angrily and then began laughing hysterically… eventually he stopped "Well well well… it seems my more… shall we say secret… operations have been discovered. No matter, GUARDS ATTACK!" Mythra's eyes widened.</p><p>The guards in the corners of the room rushed them, and Amalthus stepped back with a smirk on his face.</p><p>An explosive was tossed towards the Queen of Uraya.</p><p>When the blast cleared she was on the floor. The guards had been taken out by Zeke, Morag, and the blade accompanying the emperor. The Noppon chairman was nowhere to be seen.</p><p>It was clear that the Queen and her two aids had not survived the blast.</p><p>"We need to go NOW!" Morag shouted.</p><p>"Agreed." Zeke said.</p><p>Then they all ran out of the room.</p><p>This had not gone as well as she hoped it would.</p>
<hr/><p>Rex's pov</p><p>He saw smoke coming out of the meeting room.</p><p>Morag was guarding the emperor, with his blade. Zeke and Mythra were close behind fighting with Indoline Monks.</p><p>"Well, that was unexpected tah say the least." Nia said as they ran towards them.</p><p>"Brighid I need your help over here" Morag shouted.</p><p>"Right!" she responded.</p><p>Pandoria stood next to Zeke. "This is just your luck my prince… how could you possibly make them this mad?"</p><p>Zeke laughed "Let's just say that they didn't like Mythra." what could they have done to have this kind of reaction? The Praytor seemed pleasant enough.</p><p>"The situation is quite a bit more unstable than that." Morag said annoyed, she continued,</p><p>"Come on, we need to get out of here, NOW!"</p><p>Rex sighed. They really couldn't go five minutes without getting in trouble.</p><p>They ran on board the Ardainian ship and launched as fast as possible.</p><p>Once they took off they got out of there as fast as possible.</p><p>Morag was cursing under her breath.</p><p>Rex walked up Pyra (Mythra had switched out with her at some point) and Nia.</p><p>"So what did you guys do that made Indol so angry?" he asked.</p><p>"Apparently Mythra confronted Amalthus on some stuff Indol did in secret. Made em real mad" Nia said.</p><p>Pyra looked down "Sorry to cause all these problems." she said.</p><p>Rex frowned.</p><p>"Hey, it's not your fault. I guess we just have to deal with Indol hunting us now. We had Mor Ardain hunting us before, that wasn't too bad." Rex said</p><p>Pyra looked up. "I mean… It's pretty much my fault… they killed the Queen of Uraya."</p><p>So that was what had her so upset! It would also explain the colorful language coming out of Morag and Zeke being more serious than normal.</p><p>"Hey, we'll figure it out ok?" she nodded and walked away.</p><p>Nia gave him a worried look.</p><p>"Don't you have a blade to help heal the crew?"</p><p>Nia rolled her eyes and walked away.</p><p>"That was rather impolite Rex." Gramps said from his helmet. He didn't really have a response for that so he just stayed quiet.</p><p>This was going to be difficult to sort out.</p><p>He had a bad feeling about all this… he supposed they would figure it out in Mor Ardain.</p>
<hr/><p>Jin's pov</p><p>They had been on their way to Indol when they took a quick stop in Gormot to resupply. Mik had learned that Indol had declared war on Mor Ardain and Tantal, and the Queen of Uraya had been assassinated. Indol was blaming Mor Ardain, but it was probably the Indoline themselves who had killed her… not that Uraya would consider that.</p><p>"This just keeps getting better and better doesn't it! If the humans keep this up we won't need to destroy the world, because it will already be gone!" Malos joked.</p><p>He had a point though.</p><p>Mik spoke up "That's not all… it seems the Aegis has had a bounty placed upon her head, along with the emperor of Mor Ardain, The Special Inquisitor, The Prince of Tantal, the Aegis's Driver, Nia, and all their blades, as well as the Acting Chairman of the Nopon trade guilds. Quite the doozy… Amalthus is definitely trying to keep something under wraps."</p><p>"Hu… wonder what got the old man so riled up." Malos said. Jin had a feeling he knew.</p><p>then he had an idea. It probably wouldn't work but it was worth a shot.</p><p>"Change course to Mor ardain."</p><p>Patroka looked up from her station. "Hu? But why would we want to go there?"</p><p>"Simple. It's the only logical location for the Ardainians to retreat to… and the Aegis is definitely with them." Jin explained.</p><p>"What makes you so sure?" Akhos asked.</p><p>"The inquisitor and the prince of Tantal were with them in Tempermentia. Amalthus has declared war on Mor Ardain and Tantal, and put a bounty on the entire group that was with the Aegis."</p><p>"I thought you wanted to go after Amalthus… why the change of heart, Jin?" Malos asked</p><p>"If we want to kill Amalthus we'll probably need help… we may be able to get help from them." he explained. Going after Amalthus alone was a suicide mission though it pained him to admit it.</p><p>"And what makes you so sure they won't just fight us?" Akhos asked.</p><p>"It's a long shot, but it's a better chance than going it alone." Jin replied.</p><p>Malos smirked. "Alright, you heard the man. Mik set course for Mor Ardain."</p><p>"Got it." Mik said.</p><p>Sorry Haze… it seemed he would be taking a slight detour. At least he could confront Mythra about not telling her.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Alright that’s one more chapter down… thanks for any feedback you might leave. And again PYRA AND MYTHRA ARE IN SMASH! (and Gramps). And yes Raqura is really dead. yes I did that.</p><p>Random fact that has nothing to do with the story, tungsten is the element with the highest melting points and boiling points. It doesn’t melt until it reaches 6192 degrees fahrenheit (3422 celsius) and it doesn’t boil until it reaches 10706 degrees fahrenheit (5930 degrees celsius) that means you can have liquid tungsten on the sun’s surface… and the sun is PLASMA (and gas).</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. the Dock</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello, and behold. I somehow managed to write the fourth chapter. sorry, it took so long.</p><p>Notice: This chapter has been revised.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Zeke's POV</p><p>He hadn't expected Amalthus to react like that. None of them had.</p><p>Mythra had hidden behind Pyra. Not unexpected of her.</p><p>Well, Morag was certainly pissed. Although you couldn't blame her. With no context, Uraya would almost certainly believe Indol, if they told them that Mor Ardain had killed Queen Raqura.</p><p>He hadn't thought Amalthus would do something like this… but he hadn't thought Amalthus had been responsible for the death of refugees either.</p><p>Something made it seem to fit towards something Amalthus would do though. Probably should have been tipped off by the whole "I hate this world" comment.</p><p>He walked over to her. They were getting close to Mor Ardain.</p><p>"DAMMIT. DAMMIT, ALL! We were so dammed close to resolving issues!" ah she was still at it. Not very normal of her, but it seemed appropriate given the circumstances.</p><p>Probably best to try to calm her down "Hey there chum."</p><p>Morag turned her head. "Oh yeah… you're here. You know Amalthus has declared war on Tantal to cover your involvement in this damn mess." Oh really? that arsehole was gonna regret that.</p><p>"Well… that's just wonderful then, isn't it. My old man ain't gonna take that well."</p><p>"I would assume not. This whole bloody thing… could it have been avoided if we hadn't helped the Aegis?"</p><p>Ah so she was feeling guilty.</p><p>"I mean maybe… but it's not like we can change it now eh? And besides… Amalthus… if he was willing to do this then… I think it's probably a good thing that we got this out of the way."</p><p>Morag looked down. "If only Uraya would see it that way." she whispered. Yeah, Uraya was probably going to declare war on them too.</p><p>"Indol is more corrupt than most people realize, that much is true… but I never thought they'd stoop so low." Zeke said.</p><p>"I think we all share that sentiment. Cept of course for that girl Nia… she didn't seem very surprised at all." she said.</p><p>"Well she was a member of Torna, wasn't she? Makes sense that she would have had close encounters with Indol's dark side." he responded</p><p>"I suppose you'd be right… I still can't believe that he was willing to kill the queen of Uraya, just to accomplish his goals… and what are his goals exactly?" good question. One he didn't have an answer for.</p><p>"I can't say I know his goals… but he did say something to me once… something that has me concerned…"</p><p>"Oh? care to elaborate?"</p><p>"You see… he said, he hated the world… something about all humans wanting death for their enemies…"</p><p>"And that did not alarm you?"</p><p>"It was a very specific conversation! It… wasn't as concerning at the time."</p><p>"A man in that position talking about how he hated the world wasn't concerning to you? Ugh, then again this is you we're talking about… you think everyone is as good-hearted as you are. I'm almost jealous of your optimism sometimes… I don't know what good will come out of something like this." well he couldn't see where this all would lead, but he was sure something good would eventually"</p><p>"I'll take that as a compliment chum! In any case, we better be getting down to the docking bay."</p><p>"Yes we should… thanks… I appreciate you trying to calm me down."</p><p>"Hm? Was it that obvious?"</p><p>"You don't start a conversation with a cursing military leader unless you think you can calm them down." he couldn't argue with that.</p><hr/><p>Akhos's Pov</p><p>"I don't get it… why did he have us come here… it's not like they're going to listen to us." Patroka said. She had a point.</p><p>"Well you know Jin… plan now, concern yourself with the result later." Akhos responded.</p><p>"It's not about us. Though I wouldn't expect you two to understand that… you guys weren't around then." Mikhail said. Then? Wait… did he mean?</p><p>"You mean the aegis war!" Akhos said. "Sometimes, I forget you were there."</p><p>"Ah who could forget that Mik is an old man." Patroka said.</p><p>"I didn't know you had such strange tastes, Patroka. Besides you're not so young yourself!"</p><p>Mikhail replied. Akhos rolled his eyes. They could pretend they didn't like each other later.</p><p>"Getting back on point, what do you mean not about us?" Akhos said.</p><p>"Jin made a promise to an old friend recently… and he intends to keep that promise…" old friend? The corpse then?</p><p>"So that blade… knew Jin?" Patroka said, confused.</p><p>"Something like that… it's complicated. All you need to know is he promised to kill Amalthus, and for that, he's going to need help… now that Indol has declared war on the Aegis's little band I imagine he thinks an alliance would be in our favor…"</p><p>"I can't see Malos and Mythra working together personally… the script has been entirely derailed." Akhos said. Not that he particularly cared about his script without Obrona. He frowned… "And I don't really want to work with that blade killer anyway."</p><p>"Yeah, does Jin really expect us to work with the people who like... killed our damn blades?" Patroka said.</p><p>"Look I don't know what he expects, but you two not screaming at them within 5 seconds of sighting them would probably help… besides someone has to Make sure Malos and Mythra don't kill each other, and as someone who doesn't want to get caught in the crossfire, I nominate Akhos."</p><p>"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with your nomination Mik." replied Patroka.</p><p>"Now I know the world is ending." Mikhail responded.</p><p>"Yeah, I'm good thanks." he said. he could go without being beaten into the ground.</p><p>Well, he was sure they would end up bringing up their blades sooner or later if they somehow accepted the offer… the script needed major rewriting… perhaps The Architect was simply messing with him.</p><hr/><p>Pyra's pov</p><p>They had just arrived in Mor Ardain, the military was rushing the streets preparing everyone for an attack.</p><p>Morag had rushed her brother Niall to the palace. Zeke had gone to help the preparation efforts.</p><p><em>"You'd think they'd be more prepared for something like this with how intense the Uraya conflict was."</em> Mythra thought to her.</p><p><em>"I have to admit it is a bit strange.</em>" Pyra thought back.</p><p>Rex walked up to her. "Oh hey Pyra, what are you doing?"</p><p>"Oh hello, Rex. I'm just thinking."</p><p>"What about?" she didn't really have an answer for that.</p><p>"Nothing in particular."</p><p>"Mythra isn't hiding is she?" he asked.</p><p>
  <em>"Crap how'd he figure it out?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You weren't exactly subtle Mythra."</em>
</p><p>She realized she was staring at Rex… "Oh… Um… she's uh… just feeling guilty… Yeah, that's it... Just guilty."</p><p>"What was that about subtlety?" Pyra ignored Mythra's comment.</p><p>"Oh yeah… It's not really her fault though… never would have pegged Amalthus for the kind of guy to do something like this."</p><p>
  <em>"See rex doesn't blame you!'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"IT'S REX, HE'D FORGIVE MALOS!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Don't be mean."</em>
</p><p><em>"It's not like he can hear us."</em>... Wait crap.</p><p>She was staring at him.</p><p>She blushed. "Sorry umm…. Yeah! But then again Minoth did say he wasn't to be trusted."</p><p><em>"Phew, saved it."</em> she thought</p><p>"I mean yeah but still… just seems weird." Rex responded.</p><p><em>"I guess it's a lot easier to believe when you were there 500 years ago."</em> Mythra thought</p><p><em>"Some of us Weren't there though Mythra"</em> Pyra could remember it, but she didn't have any emotions attached to that time.</p><p>Nia rode up to them on Dromarch… he seemed to be in quite a hurry.</p><p>"Oi, where the hell ave you two been, I've been lookin for ya all over the damn place!" Nia exclaimed</p><p>Right they were supposed to head up to the palace… woops.</p><p>"Ah sorry, we just got a bit side-tracked." Rex said</p><p>"Anyway no time for chit chat, Ye two aren't gonna believe this."</p><p>"Believe what? Rex asked.</p><p>"What did ya think I wasn't gonna tell ya? Agh forget it. It's Torna. Their ship has appeared at the docs!" Nia said</p><p><em>"Torna's here? That makes sense- Wait. WHAT."</em> Mythra went silent. Pyra agreed with that assessment.</p><p>"Wait what? What are they doing here?" Rex said.</p><p>"Oi how am I supposed to know that."</p><p>"My lady, he had a perfectly natural reaction." Dromarch said.</p><p>"Can it furball." Nia paused, "Come on you two, time's a wastin."</p><p>Dromarch had what appeared to be an offended look on his face, but began to run back towards the docs. Sure enough, there was a black metal hull clearly visible.</p><p>What could they possibly be here for…</p><p>"We should probably check this out." Pyra said.</p><p>"Yeah. rule 8 of the salvager's code; Something's up? Pick it up." Rex really needed to stop bringing those strange rules up.</p><p><em>"Agreed"</em> Mythra thought to her.</p><p>Time to go see what Torna could possibly want.</p><hr/><p>Jin's Pov</p><p>Docking had been unsuccessful thus far. Their ship had been recognized as an unauthorized vessel. For some reason the dock guard kept yelling "Don't forget me!" that was annoying, to say the least. Mik, Akhos, and Patroka were below deck in case they needed to make a swift exit.</p><p>Jin was standing on top of the Monoceros. Malos was yelling at the Ardainian soldiers from the doorway of the ship. Kept telling them to "Get the boy that drives the Aegis… in hindsight, Malos probably didn't like the idea of working with Mythra. And Mythra probably felt the same. But he knew the only way any of them could beat Amalthus would be to team up. Mor Ardain's leadership wouldn't like it either. The only leverage they really had was themselves the Monoceros and the Marsanes… of course, that offer might sell the warmongers, and maybe the emperor but there were no promises to anything.</p><p>There was also getting Mythra and Malos not to kill each other.</p><p>He saw Nia appear on the dock riding her blade. Still hiding her nature as a flesh-eater hm. Strange but given what he knew about Nia not surprising. He doubted anyone in the aegis group (other than maybe Mythra) knew.</p><p>"Oi what in the Bloody el' are ya Doing ere!" she shouted.</p><p>"Ah if it isn't the traitor." Malos Mocked.</p><p>"Leave it be Malos. Antagonizing her isn't going to help anything." he said.</p><p>"Aw and I was having fun, too bad." Malos was really not the right choice to help with docking.</p><p>The special inquisitor showed up then, with Brighid, the prince of Tantal, and his blade.</p><p>"Torna! You are wanted for theft, and murder." the Inquisitor shouted.</p><p>Malos scoffed "Oh we're well aware trust me."</p><p>"What do you people even want?" the Tantalese said.</p><p>The kid and Mythra's other form walked up. A Nopon and an artificial blade were close behind.</p><p>"We heard about Indol. We'd like to make a deal." Jin said.</p><p>"A deal? You must be out of your minds." the inquisitor said.</p><p>Oh, they had lost their minds a long time ago.</p><p>Just let us dock. We have an offer I don't think you can turn down." jin said.</p><p>"And what makes you think they can't turn you down?" the Tantalese said.</p><p>Malos spoke up "Because you guys need all the help you can get. Indol's declared war and it's only a matter of time until Uraya does too. Good luck with getting help from Tantal, those bastards wouldn't declare war on the Leftherian archipelago, even if they had war declared on them."</p><p>The inquisitor and the Tantalese looked at each other.</p><p>"Nia do they have anything to offer?" the Tantalese asked.</p><p>"Yeh, they do." Nia frowned.</p><p>"Can we be sure they aren't lying though." the Inquisitor asked.</p><p>Mythra's double (he thinks she's named Pyra) spoke up "Jin and Malos are many things… liars? I don't believe so."</p><p>"Nonetheless we should exercise caution." Brighid said. Yeah, that seemed like something she would say.</p><p>The Inquisitor looked at him. "I Must be insane. Fine. you may dock and we'll hear you out. But all of you must leave your ship."</p><p>This was going to be interesting… but they had gotten a foot in the door.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>so next chapter we have the first major interaction between the Torna and Aegis parties. sorry, this took so long to bring out. thanks for the support. please feel free to review.</p><p>random fun fact the closest star system to our own has 3 stars in it. Alpha Centauri a and b, and Proxima Centauri.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. children fight in a cafateria</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>what the chapter title says</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So here we are back again on chapter 5 (a record for me as far as fanfics go) and I am excited to share this chapter with you so get reading. Enjoy, and feel free to leave a review. I am SO sorry this took so long. Had a case of writer's block.</p><p>Notice: This chapter has been revised.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Malos's Pov</p><p>Jin was an idiot if he really thought this was going to work.</p><p>They were getting off the ship. Akhos, Mik, and Patroka were behind him, and Jin was in front of him.</p><p>As they stepped out of the ship and onto the platform he saw Pyra turn into Mythra. He wasn't sure Jin thought of them as different people, but they were different. That might be the only way he could stand in the same room as his fellow Aegis though so he guessed it was a good thing Pyra existed.</p><p>But seriously he was going to end up killing, or being killed by Mythra.</p><p>"Why did we agree to this again?" Malos said.</p><p>"A good question. One I don't have an answer to." Akhos responded.</p><p>"Well, we're here now. Might as well give it a shot." Mik said.</p><p>He had a point. It wasn't like they could back out now.</p><p>They stepped onto the main platform, and Jin began talking with the Inquisitor.</p><p>He walked back towards them "They want us to come with them to a titan warship. Apparently, it's going to take a little while to explain the… situation." Jin said.</p><p>The situation hu? That was putting it mildly. They were never going to convince the Ardainians to ally with them.</p><p>"Alright, your call Jin." he said. Because Jin was the leader, so he had to do this even if he didn't agree with it.</p><p>And he definitely didn't agree with it.</p><p>Later in a room</p><p>Malos still thought this whole thing was ridiculous. They were in a room that looked like a cafeteria. There were Ardanian soldiers at all the doors. Patroka and Akhos were arguing over something stupid as usual. Jin looked anxious.</p><p>Pyra and her friends were in the room, with the notable exception of the Special Inquisitor and her blade Brighid.</p><p>Suddenly he heard a voice talking to him "Why you hurt friend Vandham? He gone now. Why?" he looked down. It was the artificial blade.</p><p>"Look, he got in my way alright? Can you go bug someone else?"</p><p>"Poppi want to know, why you so angry?" ah right it's name was Poppi. Not sure why you would give an artificial blade a name but who was he to judge. Oh right, he was the Aegis. that gave him judging permission.</p><p>"Kid did you not hear me? I told you to get lost!"</p><p>Poppi tilted her head and frowned… "Poppi just want to know. You hurt Poppi's friendypon."</p><p>Gah If it would make her (since when was it a her) shut up. "Look I don't know I've always been miserable okay? Hell, even Mythra could have told you that. What are we even doing here! This is a massive waste of time, there's no way Mor Ardain will agree to work with us no matter what we offer them."</p><p>"What make you think you get rejected?"</p><p>"Because they consider us terrorists. Because we've killed their soldiers and sunk their ships. Because they don't trust us." He didn't know why he was telling this kid all this.</p><p>She looked at him "you not seem terrible even though you hurt friendypon. Poppi forgive you. Just no more hurt freindypon." the Nopon had passed down its strange grammar that was for sure… wait did she just forgive him for killing someone. She continued "you come to help? Then Poppi sure they accept help. Who not accept help?"</p><p>Oh, how innocent she was. Well, she was artificial, so it made sense.</p><p>"Heh. you sure are weird, kid." she was kinda endearing but he wouldn't tell her that.</p><p>Poppi take that as compliment."</p><p>Yeah, this day couldn't get much weirder. Dear architect above, Jin better get them out of here. They were infecting him with their unfounded optimism. It made him sick. Still. At least the robot… Poppi was too stupid to understand who she was talking to. He didn't want her to be scared of him for some reason.</p><hr/><p>Morag's pov</p><p>She walked into the throne room and bowed "Majesty".</p><p>She saw Niall smile when she walked. "Hello, Morag." He said.</p><p>"Hello, Aegaeon." Brighid said.</p><p>"Brighid" He nodded to her. She never could tell whether or not those two had feelings for each other.</p><p>"So what can I do for you?" Niall asked.</p><p>"It appears Torna wants to help with the war against the praetorium. I told their leader you would meet with them. I advise you to exercise extreme caution." Morag still didn't think it would be a good idea to trust Torna for a second, but they needed all the help they could get."</p><p>"Torna you said? What could they have to gain." he asked.</p><p>"That much remains unclear." Morag said.</p><p>"I must go to meet with them at once then." Niall said.</p><p>"With all due respect your majesty that may not be the wisest course of action." Aegaeon said. Ever the voice of reason, Morag thought.</p><p>"I agree with Aegaeon on this matter." she said.</p><p>"Well, they've already been told I'd meet with them. It would be foolish, and rude to simply back out now." Niall was nothing if not stubborn… she only wished he was more concerned about his own well-being.</p><p>She was about to protest when Brighid spoke up "Perhaps a video meeting. That way you would not be in danger of attack. Lady Morag and I could be on their side of the conference to ensure it would not be seen as a lack of interest." she had to admit it was a good idea.</p><p>"Hm. That could work." Aegaeon said.</p><p>"Well it's settled then. I shall meet with Torna to discuss whatever it is that needs to be discussed."</p><p>"Understood." she said. She still thought this was a bad idea.</p><hr/><p>Pyra's Pov</p><p>This was a terrible idea. This was a very bad idea. Why were they even doing this? Something was going to happen. She knew something was going to happen.</p><hr/><p>Mythra thought to her. (Mythra had been panicking ever since Torna had docked.)</p><p><em>"Uhg tell me about it… at least this gives me an opportunity to question Jin though."</em> she thought back.</p><p>
  <em>"Just be careful okay?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I'll be fine."</em>
</p><p>Mythra was VERY stressed. She supposed it made sense but still. She had gotten her point across already.</p><p>Looking around the room Rex was eating something, Zeke was talking with some Ardainians while Pandoria stood next to him, Poppi had walked up to Malos of all the people and started talking to him (surprisingly he had responded), and Nia was trying to put as much space between her and Torna as possible. Jin just looked uncomfortable. Patroka and Akhos seemed to be arguing over something trivial, and Mikhail was trying to look like he wasn't staring at her.</p><p>She walked towards Jin. If Poppi was okay talking to Malos then she should be fine.</p><p>"Hello." she said in a somewhat friendly tone.</p><p>"Hm? What do you want?" he said.</p><p><em>"Well, this is off to a great start."</em> Mythra thought sarcastically.</p><p>She decided to ignore her.</p><p>"So Jin what are you doing here, exactly?"</p><p>"Mor Ardain needs help. We don't like Indol. We have a common enemy."</p><p>"So how come your goals have shifted more towards Indol then?"</p><p>"You were there. You heard her."</p><p><em>Ah so this was about Fan- "Haze"</em> Mythra interrupted her thoughts.</p><p>Right, she should probably call her by her actual name.</p><p>"Did you notice her core?" she asked</p><p>"Of course I noticed." Jin said aggressively</p><p><em>"Yeah this is going great"</em> more sarcasm on Mythra's part</p><p>"You can take over at any time you know." that got Mythra silent</p><p>"What do you think caused it?"</p><p>"If I had to take a guess I'd say Amalthus. Based on what I've heard about his experiments it seems likely. Mik probably knows."</p><p>Wait how would Mikhail know?... wait right… something about him being an experiment, if she was remembering what Jin had told them after haze died correctly.</p><p>"So… that's really him then?" she asked</p><p>"Hm? Mik… yeah… he's been through a lot. When Lora... died Haze and Mik were separated from us… I imagine when Haze returned to her crystal…" Jin stopped talking…</p><p>"So then… how is he still alive?" she asked.</p><p>"Remember how I said he was an experiment?" she nodded. "He was the first successful Blade-Eater… they put a whole core into him. Most people they experimented with died or turned into insane monsters." he winced as he said that last part.</p><p>"They put a core into him? So like a reverse Flesh-Eater then?" she asked</p><p>"Something like that."</p><p>Wait… if Blade-Eaters are a thing… no it couldn't be…</p><p>"You don't think that's what they did to Haze do you?" she asked.</p><p><em>"That's totally it!"</em> there was Mythra stating the obvious.</p><p>"Probably. That's definitely not the worst of it though, seeing as how she didn't even remember her own name." Jin said angrily.</p><p>It was no wonder Jin hated Amalthus so much if he had really done all that… and seeing as how he had reacted when he realized people knew what he had done… Amalthus was a sickness to the world.</p><p>Not that that was surprising, given this was Amalthus they were talking about.</p><p>"So your goal is to kill Amalthus then… if it was anyone else… except Malos anyway… I'd be concerned. But when it comes to him he deserves it." she said</p><p>"So you still hate Malos then." he almost sounded disappointed</p><p>"I don't… hate him… but you remember what he did… he killed all those Tornans… the people of Judicium… he sunk Coeia... and… killed Milton."</p><p>"You killed Hugo, and sank Torna. You're one to talk… well no I suppose that you and Mythra are separate, so that was her fault… still. You can't really talk."</p><p><em>"So he blames me then."</em> she heard Mythra think.</p><p>"But he did what he did on purpose! Mythra did it on accident." she exclaimed angrily; nobody would talk about her sister like that on her watch.</p><p>"I doubt Tantal sees it that way… Regardless it's something she did. And it's something she must atone for…" Jin responded</p><p>"And what about Malos? Does he get off scot-free for every person he's killed?" she Fumed.</p><p>"No… tell me where were you two these past five hundred years? Do you know what Malos has been doing? Taking in flesh eaters… helping us keep Amalthus from cleansing cores… all the while his Core is damaged beyond belief… I don't even know how he's managed to keep going… and meanwhile you were sitting taking a 500-year long nap… You wouldn't be awake now if we hadn't dragged you out of your grave!" he yelled</p><p>That got Rex's attention.</p><p>She waved him off then responded to Jin. "and how many innocent people have you killed to achieve your goals? Taking the easy path rather than the right one."</p><p>He frowned and sighed. "I have killed it's true. I have done wrong… but at least I didn't abandon the world."</p><p>She wanted to say something back to him, but if she stayed any longer she was sure Mythra (who was by now screaming curses upon Jin.) would switch with her and try to kill him.</p><p>So she just walked away trying and failing to hide her mixed emotions.</p><p>Jin for his part, did not protest. It seemed they both had things they had to atone for.</p><hr/><p>Mikhail's Pov</p><p>Akhos, and Patroka had been arguing over whether or not Mor Ardain was too obsessed with dark metals… well that was how it started anyway it had quickly devolved into insults.</p><p>"YOU BLUE ARMORED WEARING CORE CRACKING ASSHOLE"</p><p>...like that.</p><p>"AT LEAST I'M NOT A STUCK UP BOY OBSESSED HORMONAL TEENAGER!"</p><p>Ah, siblings. He had given up trying to break up their arguments 300 years ago… they had only met them 350 years ago. Now he just sat back and enjoyed the show… things were going in the direction of physical violence now, and it wasn't a good idea to get caught in the crossfire. He had learned that the hard way. So had Jin and Nia. speaking of Nia, she was hiding in the opposite corner of the room and trying not to draw attention… he wondered where her blade was… he was always an interesting conversationalist. Then he saw Dromarch sitting next to a table with some small Titan… that wasn't… no way… it couldn't be. He had to know.</p><p>He started walking towards them.</p><p>"Dromarch. How's it going furry paws?" he said.</p><p>Dromarch looked up. "Mikhail." he said.</p><p>The Titan spoke up then. "Mikhail… as in little Mikhail from the Addam days?"</p><p>So it was him.</p><p>"The very same. Nobody could forget me." Mik said.</p><p>"You got big." Azurda said.</p><p>"Maybe it's just you getting smaller."</p><p>"Wait… you two know each other?" Dromarch asked confused.</p><p>"Mikhail here was a companion of Lora and Jin, back in the day." Interesting that he left out Haze.</p><p>"Ah, he knew Jin's old driver then." Dromarch said</p><p>"Beg your pardon Mikhail but… how exactly are you alive… last I heard humans have short lifespans." Azurda asked</p><p>He frowned.</p><p>"Let's just say… Haze wasn't the only one Amalthus got his hands on."</p><p>"Ah… I see." Azurda said.</p><p>"I was under the impression that you were a flesh-eater." Dromarch said.</p><p>"Something like that… they call me a Blade-Eater…"</p><p>"Sounds… complicated." Azurda said.</p><p>"The concept itself isn't but the results are… pretty sure I was the only success in putting in a whole core."</p><p>"A whole core?" Azurda exclaimed. "Well, no wonder you're still alive then!"</p><p>"Yeah… so anyway, what were you two talking about." Mik said</p><p>"Apologies but I don't believe that's your business." Dromarch said.</p><p>He heard a Banging noise and they turned to look.</p><p>Patroka had punched Akhos in the face. Some of the Ardainian soldiers looked at them nervously.</p><p>"Those two really don't care about first impressions much do they?" Azurda asked.</p><p>"Well everyone already knows who we are… No point in pretending." Mik responded</p><p>They all winced as Akhos threw a chair at Patroka and it connected with her legs.</p><p>"They could be more subtle though." Dromarch said.</p><p>And then Rex got caught in the crossfire. They were both throwing punches and kicks at each other and Rex was caught in the middle. As a result, Rex was receiving the majority of the blows.</p><p>"Indeed." was the only response Azurda could muster.</p><p>It was at that moment that Malos, tailed by the Nopon's artificial blade (who somehow hadn't been killed by Malos yet. (though her builder was seeming to panic at the mere sight.) got between them and pulled them apart. Poor Rex walked over to Pyra dazed.</p><p>"Thank the architect. I was starting to worry I would have to get in the middle of that."</p><p>Malos was the only one who was able to get between the two without being hit. Probably because they were slightly afraid of him. Although the only person who wasn't was Jin… and The Artificial Blade apparently. Even Rex steered clear of him.</p><hr/><p>Rex's pov</p><p>He had just finished eating. Then a chair had flown over his head. The next thing he knew there was lots of yelling. And lots of punches and kicks connecting with him.</p><p>Why him… why did it have to be him.</p><p>"Are you sure you're alright? That felt pretty painful." Pyra asked.</p><p>"Yeah yeah yeah… uh I'm great… never better." his cheeks reddened</p><p>He was covered in bruises. And as a result, so was Pyra.</p><p>"Uh... sorry." he said.</p><p>"Oh it's fine." she responded "it's not like you got them to fight.</p><p>He noticed Nia trying not to laugh.</p><p>He was worried she was going to make fun of him.</p><p>Luckily he was saved from the potential of that happening when the door opened and Morag walked back in.</p><hr/><p>Morag's pov</p><p>She paused for a moment as she took in a badly bruised Rex and Pyra, as well as Poppi and Malos each holding up a member of Torna, who were clawing at them and telling them to put them down.</p><p>"Kids." she said. "leave them in a room alone and five minutes later it's all gone to chaos."</p><p>Although Zeke was laughing hysterically at her walking in when she did so… then again adults may not be much better</p><p>"Although most of the time he doesn't act like one." Brighid said.</p><p>Brighid always knew what she was thinking.</p><p>She shook the thoughts away. Someone had to be professional here.</p><p>"The emperor will converse with Torna via video call. I apologize. It is a mere security measure." Jin nodded clearly embarrassed by his comrade's example. She turned to Rex. "he'll probably want to see you too." he nodded.</p><p>Children… she was surrounded by children.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Well, that took a lot longer than I expected it to. I've been trying to make each chapter longer than the last, but this chapter should have been finished already. Thanks for sticking with me. Reviews are appreciated</p><p>Fun fact. The Indonesian space agency wants to make a Space Station despite the fact that they can't put people into space yet. By the beginning of the 30s too</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Meeting(s)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey there… did you know that Xenoblade 2 has 13 hours of cutscenes? I do, because I watched them all back to back (and that’s not including the golden country’s 2 hours and 49 min.)</p><p>The things I do for accuracy. </p><p>PAIN.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Jin’s pov</p><p> </p><p>They were walking in a hallway (this seemed to be the norm now). </p><p> </p><p>The inquisitor spoke up as they reached the end of the hall. “Alright. You should know that if this doesn’t go well I plan on arresting you. If you resist, lethal force will be used.”</p><p> </p><p>He nodded. He noticed Malos scowl. Fortunately, he didn’t say anything.</p><p> </p><p>The door opened and they stepped inside. There were about a dozen Ardainian soldiers. It appeared they had either nets too.</p><p> </p><p>There was a screen on the other end of a table, and a boy on it. He was the emperor… Niall. He had made a point to keep tabs on Brighid and Aegaeon’s drivers.</p><p> </p><p>Speaking of Aegaeon, he was standing next to the boy. </p><p> </p><p>Not the most powerful driver, but at least he was nobler than most. Though he couldn’t say if that would last or not.</p><p> </p><p>“Your Majesty.” Jin said. He nodded.</p><p> </p><p>“Wow. I didn’t expect Morag's little brother to be that young. He’s really the emperor?” Rex said dumbfounded. at that everyone in the room simultaneously slapped their foreheads, and sighed.</p><p> </p><p>Nia slapped rex’s head.</p><p> </p><p>Morag coughed awkwardly.</p><p> </p><p>“Jin right? Please sit.” Niall said</p><p> </p><p>He sat down on the chair on his side of the table.</p><p> </p><p>“So. what brings you here? Coming to a place you’re wanted isn’t the smartest thing.” Niall said</p><p> </p><p>“Neither is talking to Indol.” he responded.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes we’ve figured that out thanks.” he heard Zeke say sarcastically. Honestly, the prince of Tantal had no respect for anyone.</p><p> </p><p>“So I hear that Indol has declared war on you and Tantal?” Jin said getting to the point. There was no time for formalities.</p><p> </p><p>“What of it?” Niall asked</p><p> </p><p>“We can help.” he said</p><p> </p><p>“And what makes you think you would be welcome?” Morag asked</p><p> </p><p>“After all you’ve killed hundreds of Ardanian soldiers. Why should we trust you.” Brighid said spitefully. Her flames seemed to get brighter.</p><p> </p><p>Jin paused. The number was staggering. He would know.</p><p> </p><p>“The enemy of my enemy is my friend. That’s the saying right?” Akhos said.</p><p> </p><p>He had counted.</p><p> </p><p>“Five hundred ninety-eight thousand two hundred thirty-one.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hm?” Niall was visibly confused by that.</p><p> </p><p>“You don’t mean…” he heard Brighid say. She had figured it out.</p><p> </p><p>“I’ve killed five hundred ninety-eight thousand two hundred thirty-one soldiers in 460 years of raids. About a fourth of which were Ardanians.” he clarified.</p><p> </p><p>“You… counted?” Malos said dumbfounded.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s quite the case for you to be imprisoned. How could you possibly defend yourself?” Brighid asked sarcastically.</p><p> </p><p>“I can’t say I can defend myself for murder. However. I did have my own reasons for conducting such raids.”</p><p> </p><p>“Such as?” Aegaeon asked. Ever a man of few words.</p><p> </p><p>“Core crystal cleansing. Do you know what it does? What it really does?” Jin asked.</p><p> </p><p>“I know Amalthus said it made resonation rates higher. It seemed reasonable.” Niall said</p><p> </p><p>“Well, it does that for a specific reason.” Mik said. After everyone’s eyes were on him he continued. “I know how core cleansing works because I saw Amalthus use it on Haze 30 consecutive times until she couldn’t even remember her own name. It was at that point that Fan La Norn was born.” Pyra gasped. Jin had never been told the specifics of what had happened. That sounded… horrible… every time Amalthus seemed like he couldn’t possibly get any worse, he got worse. “Core cleansing… it removes all data from a blade’s core retained from previous drivers.”</p><p> </p><p>They waited for them all to take that in. </p><p> </p><p>“So why should we trust you on this?; you aren't exactly trustworthy.” Morag said</p><p> </p><p>“Figures you would say that.” Malos said. “Ever wonder why titan birth rates are so low?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, it’s been a major point of concern. Especially now that the major titans are reaching the end of their lives” Niall said.</p><p> </p><p>“What if we told you that blades are not truly immortal.” Jin said</p><p> </p><p>“What do you mean?” Zeke asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Blades do live through multiple incarnations, yes. However... When a blade eventually reaches the end of their life cycle they return to the titan that birthed them.”</p><p> </p><p>“Titans… birth blades? Rex asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Tora’s head hurt.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes. titans birth blades. And when a blade reaches the end of their life they return to the titan. There they stay in the titan’s womb until eventually, they become titans themselves. These newborn titans have no memory of their life as a blade. Similar to returning to their core really.” Jin explained.</p><p> </p><p>Rex looked at Pyra “Is this true?” he asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, blades become titans, and titans become blades. I wasn’t aware of what Amalthus was doing though.”</p><p> </p><p>“So then Amalthus wiping the blades stops them from becoming titans.” Niall said. “Why are you here though?” he asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Like we said. We’ve come to help you. ” Jin said.</p><p> </p><p>“What do you have to offer?” Morag asked.</p><p> </p><p>All in then. There was no backing out now “Three hundred artificial blades, the last Tornan warship the Marsanes, and a Tornan cruiser called the Monoceros. Along with ourselves of course.”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s… quite the offer. But I’m afraid I cannot accept. Even with you saving the blades from Indol, you’ve taken too many lives to be forgiven.” Niall said</p><p> </p><p>Nobel to the end. Most would have accepted such an offer.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know what the rest of Torna wants, But I’m not asking for forgiveness. I just want to see Amalthus burn.” he said.</p><p> </p><p>“And you will. But you will do so from a prison cell.” Morag said.</p><p> </p><p>“Well! this has been a huge waste of time.” Patroka said</p><p> </p><p>She and Akhos pulled out their weapons. Mik sighed. Malos didn’t have a weapon so he just stood there.</p><p> </p><p>“So you’re all flesh eaters then?” Morag said.</p><p> </p><p>The guards pointed their weapons at them, and the inquisitor unsheathed her swords.</p><p> </p><p>“Stand down.” Jin said there was no reason to shed blood. They knew they wouldn’t be able to escape anyway.</p><p> </p><p>Akhos put his bow away. Patroka did not put her lance away. </p><p> </p><p>“I SAID STAND DOWN!” Jin shouted. A shockwave came off of him.</p><p> </p><p>She put her weapon away.</p><p> </p><p>“We’ll come quietly. Just don’t try giving us to indol as a bargaining chip.” Jin said</p><p> </p><p>Niall nodded. Then the feed turned off and they were ushered out of the room by the soldiers.</p><hr/><p>Malos’s pov. </p><p> </p><p>They had been taken into a cell. </p><p> </p><p>Patroka was right, this had been a complete waste of time. He had let himself get his hopes up after talking to Poppi.</p><p> </p><p>The cell essentially acted as a giant either net. It was supposed to inhibit their abilities, and for the most part, it did. Akhos and Mikhail were arguing about whether or not it was worth a try in the first place.</p><p> </p><p>A guard walked into the room and pointed at Malos. “OI you! The aegis wants to see ya!” </p><p> </p><p>He looked towards Jin. Jin shrugged.</p><p> </p><p>He wondered if it was Pyra or Mythra.</p><p> </p><p>He supposed he would find out soon enough.</p><p> </p><p>As he walked out of the cell he had guards on all sides of him.</p><p> </p><p>He was taken across the hall to an otherwise empty cell. Otherwise, because Pyra was in it. He supposed it made more sense for her to want to talk then Mythra.</p><p> </p><p>He was shoved into the room and the door shut behind him.</p><p> </p><p>Well, this would be interesting.</p><p> </p><p>“Hello, Malos.”</p><p> </p><p>“So, how did you come to be anyway?” if he had to talk to her, he might as well ask her some questions.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s all hu? No snappy remarks or threats? That’s not like you.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, what can I say. 500 years changes a man. So does almost dying.”</p><p> </p><p>“You didn’t seem different when you killed Vandham. Or when I woke up.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, that guy killed himself. You all seem to be forgetting that.”</p><p> </p><p>“And you wouldn’t have killed him?”</p><p> </p><p>“I would have. But It doesn’t change that I didn’t.”</p><p> </p><p>“Fair enough. You get along with Poppi, That’s surprising. It seems nobody is immune to her cuteness.” </p><p> </p><p>“She is pretty adorable… I mean… You haven’t answered my question. I answered yours. Now answer mine.”</p><p> </p><p>She sighed. “I guess maybe I should tell you. There was a person named Milton, who was like a little brother to Mythra.”</p><p> </p><p>“Go on.”</p><p> </p><p>“You remember when you destroyed Auresco?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes. It sure made Mythra mad. He was there wasn’t he.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes. when she saw his corpse… she lost it. She created me at that moment so she wouldn’t have to live anymore.”</p><p> </p><p>So he had caused his sister crippling depression which she hid from by making Pyra then.</p><p> </p><p>“So she hid behind you essentially.” he said.</p><p> </p><p>“More or less. She only came back because Rex was in danger.”</p><p> </p><p>“I remember. She killed Sever and Obrona.”</p><p> </p><p>Pyra frowned. “So how are you alive then?” she asked</p><p> </p><p>“Heh. I suppose that’s only fair.” he uncovered his chest plate and showed her his core, and she gasped. “When I woke up I was in the land of Morytha in the wreckage of my siren, only partially materialized. I have no clue how I survive missing a massive chunk of my core. You’re the only person with the ability to fix it. I was going to do it forcefully, but it’s not like I can do that right now.”</p><hr/><p>Pyra’s pov.</p><p> </p><p>His core was… broken. How was he even able to form?</p><p> </p><p>“What does it matter. That arsehole said he was going to force us to fix his core. That would completely destroy us!” Mythra through to her</p><p> </p><p>“But… what if we chose to fix it?”</p><p> </p><p>“You can’t be serious. After everything he’s done, you’d forgive him just like that?”</p><p> </p><p>“I forgave you for making me.”</p><p> </p><p>“You… you know that’s not the same.”</p><p> </p><p>“You know what I mean Mythra. I wouldn’t JUST forgive him. But he’s our brother.”</p><p> </p><p>“He’s a murderer.”</p><p> </p><p>“So are we.”</p><p> </p><p>“Pyra!” Malos shouted “You in there?</p><p> </p><p>She looked up. “Hm?”</p><p> </p><p>“You stared off into space when I was finished talking.”</p><p> </p><p>“Ah sorry. Mythra and I were talking about your core.”</p><p> </p><p>“What about it?”</p><p> </p><p>“I… might be able to fix it.”</p><p> </p><p>“Why would you do that? It’s not like I deserve it.”</p><p> </p><p>“No you don’t… but you’re my brother. I can’t leave you like this when I could help you. But only </p><p>under the condition that you don’t try to destroy the world.”</p><p> </p><p>Malos shrugged. “Eh. Not like I’m going anywhere anyway. And Jin came to help you guys, so I doubt that’s what’s on his mind right now.”</p><p> </p><p>“There is one issue. Mythra doesn’t agree with me.”</p><p> </p><p>“Makes sense. I have no idea why you think this is a remotely good idea.”</p><p> </p><p>“Even he gets it.” She heard Mythra say.</p><p> </p><p>She ignored her “I don’t care if it’s a good idea or not. Everyone has some good in them. Even you. And like I said… I can’t leave you like this when I could do something to help.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah but if Mythra doesn’t agree, it might not even work.”</p><p> </p><p>“and I don’t agree.” Mythra thought to her</p><p> </p><p>“You really don’t care about him do you?” she responded.</p><p> </p><p>“You know there’s more to it than that.”</p><p> </p><p>“Is there?”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m not letting you do this.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh so you’re going to talk to him then.”</p><p> </p><p>“No, just kick him out of the room.”</p><p> </p><p>Then Mythra took control.</p><hr/><p>Malos’s POV</p><p> </p><p>And then Mythra was standing in front of him.</p><p> </p><p>“So, you’ve finally decided to show yourself partner.” he said.</p><p> </p><p>“Whatever.”</p><p> </p><p>“Couldn’t let Pyra heal me, could you?”</p><p> </p><p>“Honestly I think even moving you to a different place was a bad idea. I can’t believe I let them try to meet with you.”</p><p> </p><p>“But you couldn’t help but hide behind Pyra, could you. That’s why you made her after all.</p><p> </p><p>“Shut up”</p><p> </p><p>“Fine. I’m sure I’ll see you again. adios!”</p><hr/><p>Mikhail’s POV</p><p> </p><p>Malos was shoved back into the room By Mythra.</p><p> </p><p>“Mikhail. We need to talk” she said.</p><p> </p><p>“I still think this whole thing was a terrible idea.” Akhos said.</p><p> </p><p>“Hu, guess that’s my cue. Latter Akhos” he said. Then he followed her out of the room.</p><p> </p><p>They walked into another cell across the hall. Ardainains had their guns trained on him the whole time.</p><p> </p><p>The door shut behind them.</p><p> </p><p>“How? how are you still alive?” she asked.</p><p> </p><p>“So you’ve figured out then. Took you long enough.” he looked down.</p><p> </p><p>“What could possibly have made side with Malos after what happened?”</p><p> </p><p>“At least he didn’t hide behind someone else so he didn’t have to deal with the consequences of his actions.”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s funny. Jin said something similar to Pyra.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well here’s the answer to why I sided with Malos. I didn’t at first. I sided with Jin. he was all I had left. I had already seen Haze tortured into… that thing. Even before that she had already forgotten me. And you had hidden away yourself. Minoth didn’t turn up for another 40 years after. The only reason he didn’t join us, was because of Malos. Addem was dead by the time I got away. Hugo was dead by your own hand.”</p><p> </p><p>She looked down. Guilt eh? Well, it didn’t matter. He had lost any respect he had for her the day she made Pyra. he felt so bad for Pyra. </p><p> </p><p>“And you asked how I’m still alive?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes.”</p><p> </p><p>He uncovered his core, and her eyes widened</p><p> </p><p>“That’s a core crystal.” Mythra stated “but it doesn’t seem connected to you in the way a blade is connected to their core. And you’re a human.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Not anymore. I’m what’s known as a blade eater. Imagine a reverse flesh eater. Amalthus did this to me. And he did it to others too. I… was the only success that survived. I was lucky to escape.”</p><p> </p><p>“How did you escape then?”</p><p> </p><p>“I waited for the right moment and then ran. Killed several guards with my own weapon, provided by the poor blade that’s core was fused with my body. The only reason I got away was because I was the first person to try, and I had planned in my head for months.”</p><p> </p><p>“I see.”</p><p> </p><p>“There’s more though. You may have left this world behind for 500 years. But surely you noticed Haze’s core.”</p><p> </p><p>“The split? Let me guess Amalthus is behind it?”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey what do you know, you can figure things out.”</p><p> </p><p>“Rude. you’re certainly more talkative.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, it’s either that or be depressed all the time. Not that it really works. But it’s better than nothing.”</p><p> </p><p>“So what is it that he did then?”</p><p> </p><p>“Aside from the 30 core cleansings? He split her core in half, and took one half for himself. He’s a blade eater. It’s why he experimented on the few refuges that survived Spessia.” </p><p> </p><p>“That bastard. He really has gotten away with far too much.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, no kidding. We were going to help fix that and avenge Haze… but I guess now we just have to watch and wait.”</p><p> </p><p>“Sounds boring.”</p><p> </p><p>“Can’t be worse than eating a meal you prepared.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey You never ate my food!”</p><p> </p><p>“Milton told me everything I needed to know.” </p><p> </p><p>Milton. The Poor kid. He had saved his life.</p><p> </p><p>Mythra looked down saddened.</p><p> </p><p>She looked at him and said “Well. I’m glad i’m not the only one left at the very least. Me you and Minoth are all still here. Brighid and Aegaeon are still here in some ways, and they still have their journals, but it’s just not the same as someone who remembers what happened.” </p><p> </p><p>“Oh. one more thing. You killed my blade Cressidus, You asshole.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah well, you were trying to kill us.” that was a surprisingly good point. </p><p> </p><p>“I’m still mad about it.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, I figured you would be.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’d steer clear of Patroka for now if I were you.” </p><p> </p><p>“Noted.”</p><hr/><p>Tora’s POV</p><p> </p><p>They were sitting on a couch in a room provide by freindypon Morag. </p><p> </p><p>“Poppi still not understand why Mor Ardain Imprisoned Mal-Mal and his freindypons.”</p><p> </p><p>Tora sighed. </p><p> </p><p>Nia spoke up. “Poppi, Torna… they’ve killed too many people to just be forgiven.”</p><p> </p><p>“Poppi thought Cat-Lady used to be part of Torna… that mean Cat-Lady has killed people for fun?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oi, It ain’t like that.”</p><p> </p><p>“What it like then!” Poppi shouted clearly confused</p><p> </p><p>Tora was so confused as to how Poppi had just approached the big scary man in black, and started talking to him. Did she not remember what had happened to Friend Vandham? Tora would have to check Poppi's memory banks.</p><p> </p><p>“Personally I’m with Poppi on this.” Rex-Rex said</p><p> </p><p>“What Rex-Rex mean?” Tora asked</p><p> </p><p>“I mean they came to help, didn’t they? It seems awfully unfair to imprison them. They even came quietly… well for the most part anyway.” Rex said.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t let Morag hear you say that mate. She’s been hunting tona for years, from what little I’ve heard from her.” </p><p> </p><p>Then Mythra walked into the room. Mythra looked scary right now.</p><p> </p><p>“Ello there Mythra, we’ve been waiting for ya.” Zeke said</p><p> </p><p>“So how’d it go?” Nia asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Not very well. I’ve come to the conclusion that Pyra is out of her mind.”</p><p> </p><p>“What makes you say that?” Rex-Rex asked</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll explain later.” </p><p> </p><p>“Oi Mythra, can ya Please explain to Poppi why we can’t trust Malos?” Nia asked. That good idea. Poppi seemed to look up to Mythra.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, Tora think that good idea!”</p><p> </p><p>“Why don’t you just explain Tora?” Mythra asked</p><p> </p><p>“Tora try, really, but Poppi not get it.”</p><p> </p><p>Then Morag walked into the room. Fire lady was close behind her</p><p> </p><p>“Ah there you all are. I’ve been looking for you. I Figured It was best to follow Mythra back to the room since we knew where she was.” Morag said.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly the room shook.</p><p> </p><p>“NO! It can’t be. It’s too soon.” Morag shouted</p><p> </p><p>“What? What is it?”</p><p> </p><p>Zeke looked out of the window. “It’s them alright. Indol’s here, and they’re bombing the city.”</p><p> </p><p>“Meh-Meh?”</p><p> </p><p>“We need to secure Niall NOW!” Morag shouted.</p><p> </p><p>Oh Tora was going to have a looooong day.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>End of chapter. Yes I am that evil.</p><p>So how is this chapter? I hope i’m getting their characters right. And yes I know it’s very unlikely that Pyra would do that, but once I got the idea in my head I couldn’t get it out. Malos isn’t getting off that easy though. He still has to start getting along with Mythra. </p><p>Random fun fact (yes i’m still doing this) Chad and Romania have almost exactly the same flag, with only a slight difference in color variation. For all purposes it is the same exact flag.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. invasion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello. Guess what. The next chapter is the halfway point. Crazy hu? This fic has been fun to write, and I do not exaggerate when I say comments are like drugs. GIVE MEH MORE. pls. enjoy! sorry it took so long!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Amalthus’s POV</p><p>They would crush Mor Ardain right here and right now.</p><p>Uraya had declared war on Mor Ardain, so it would be fairly simple to invade with their support. </p><p>Uraya was like putty in his hands. The newly crowned king of Uraya was a fool, and he would regret siding with Indol when Mor Ardain and Tantal fell. </p><p>The Indoline titian would be saved for now. There was no reason to put their strongest piece at risk so early on in the game.</p><p>They could even guse the war under justice for Gormot.</p><p>Really there was only the matter of Mor Ardain’s military to worry about. But with the towers prepped it shouldn’t matter.</p><p>“Report sir!” a guard said as they walked in.</p><p>He sighed. “Yes, What is it?”</p><p>“Sir, Indoline and Urayan troops have reached Alba Cavanich, and begun bombardment of the city.”</p><p>“Good. all is going according to plan. You are dismissed.”</p><p>The guard bowed and left the room.</p><p>MorArdain would fall. Then Tantal for their treachery.</p><p>Then he just had to go to the world tree to make the end he so dreamed a reality. He had to thank Malos for allowing him to realize his desire.</p><hr/><p><br/>Niall’s pov</p><p>This was bad. They weren't ready for this attack.</p><p>Aegaeon had begun spearheading the defense… but there was only so much they could do.<br/>Indol had hit them hard and fast, and the Urayan army was present to boot. That was depressing but not entirely unexpected.</p><p>“Aegaeon?”</p><p>Aegaeon looked up from the battle plans. “Yes, majesty?”</p><p>He wished Aegaeon wouldn’t be so formal but he didn’t have time to dwell on that.</p><p>“Issue an evacuation order. All civilians must reach Gormot in the event that Mor Ardain falls.”</p><p>Aegaeon frowned. A rare display of emotion. “Majesty… are you sure it will come to that?” </p><p>“No… but it is… likely. We cannot afford to hurt our citizens over the prideful belief that we will win.”</p><p>“Understood.” Aegaeon responded. Then he ran out of the room to notify the war council of the proclamation.</p><p>Niall sighed. “Oh what a mess this is…”</p><hr/><p><br/>Morag’s Pov</p><p>If she had been Angry before now she was furious.</p><p>Nobody touched her home. NOBODY!</p><p>As she and Brigid ran for the throne room, they were closely trailed by Nia and Dromarch.</p><p>Tora, Rex, and Zeke had gone towards the city to help with the defense effort, as the Indoline began landing. There was only so much they could do with the orbital bombardment happening though.</p><p>“He’s going tah be fine.” Nia said. Morag had her doubts.</p><p>He was the perfect target. And Indol had shown that they would not hesitate to kill.</p><p>As they approached the throne room she saw the door was open. There was Niall and Aegaeon fighting together against Indoline Troops. How they had gotten into the palace was a mystery.<br/>Niall was clearly having trouble, because he didn’t have nearly enough practice driving Aegaeon.</p><p>Niall’s last guard was slain by an Indoline monk. “Don’t… forget… me.” were the soldier’s last words.</p><p>“Morag!” Niall shouted her name as he saw her.</p><p>“Hold on Majesty, I’m coming.”</p><p>Dromarch tackled a solder just before it could hit Niall.</p><p>“Just in tha nick o Time. wouldn’t cha say Morag?” Nia said</p><p>“Thank you.” Niall said.</p><p>“This isn’t over just yet!” Morag said.</p><p>Then more Indoline troops came in and all hell broke loose.</p><p>Dromarch was constantly healing them, but no matter how many waves of troops came, there was still more.</p><p>“I… Don’t Know ...how many more... We can take.” Nia said, out of breath.</p><p><br/>This did not look good.</p><hr/><p><br/>Jin’s pov </p><p>They had felt the shaking in the ground first. Then the guards just outside the room had left their posts.</p><p>Which could only mean one thing.</p><p>“Indol’s attacking!” Malos said.</p><p>“How can you be sure?” Akhos asked.</p><p>“I have my suspicions, but Malos does sound one hundred percent sure.” Mik said.</p><p>“Simple. You forget who my driver is. I know exactly where he is, when he preps his master driver powers. And right now he is. Probably keeping the Indoline titan prepared for any counterattack.”</p><p>“We have got to get out of here!” Patroka said.</p><p>Jin spoke up then “I agree… but… Mor Ardain… we can’t just leave them at the mercy of Indol."</p><p>“What did you have in mind? That they would just forgive us or something?” Patroka said. She could be so annoying sometimes.</p><p>“No. But they need help, we’re here, and we want to fight Indol… at least I do… I… you do want Indol down right?” Jin said. He hadn’t thought about if his compatriots… friends would even want this.</p><p>“I’m in. I’ve seen what Indol Is Capable of. I don’t want to see that again. And you may be the one who made the promise to Haze, but I’m still responsible for it too.” Mikhail said.</p><p>“Eh, I’m in if You guys are in.” Patroka said.</p><p>“Oh it certainly beats destroying the world being the main goal… No offense Malos. Although it would take some script adjustment.” Akhos smiled.</p><p>“You wound me! What the hell, destroying the world can wait. Who knows. I might just get some answers in the process.” Malos said.</p><p>Jin smiled. He was… truly lucky to have people like them with him. “It’s settled then.” Jin said.</p><p>Then he reached out towards the door and it began to freeze.</p><p>“Wait what?” Patroka started. “How’s he-?”</p><p>“Oh You do know my abilities don’t rely on either don’t you?”</p><p>“Hm. I see. So you could have let us out any time?” Akhos said.</p><p>“Hey he did allow them to arrest us. It wouldn’t make much sense for him to break out.” Malos explained. As usual Malos was on point.</p><p>The door was completely frozen over.</p><p>Jin had changed into his flesh-eater form. Then he launched a volley of ice at the door. It broke down in an instant. “Alright let’s get going.” Malos said. </p><p>They had work to do.</p><hr/><p>Rex’s Pov</p><p>They just kept coming. He didn’t know what to do.</p><p>“Come on Rex… Ugh, We can get through these dam soldiers!” Zeke shouted.</p><p>Poppi and Tora were distracting a sentinel as Zeke struck at its legs with Pandoria, and it fainted.</p><p>Rex meanwhile was guarding Mythra while she fired Siren on the Urayan fleet. The titan weapons were well-armored though, so it was taking a while for them to go down.</p><p>Indoline stars streaked over their heads. Tora launched a volley of missiles from his gauntlets after Poppi switched modes.</p><p>“Tora not know how much more Tora can take.”</p><p>“Come on, we won’t go down here!” Rex shouted.</p><p>The Ardainian troops were doing their best, but it was clear that they were just outdone by the Indoline troops. And they had been caught off guard.”</p><p>Suddenly a Indoline star landed in front of Rex. Mythra was in the middle of firing a shot at a battleship so she didn’t notice, and Tora and Zeke were fighting Indoline soldiers.</p><p>“Look out Rex!” gramps shouted. Rex was shoved onto the ground, and gramps flew out of his helmet.</p><p>His sword got Knocked out of his hand. Mythra gasped as he was pinned down, but her path was blocked by More Indoline soldiers. Zeke and Tora were each fighting a sentinel.</p><p>“I can’t get a clear shot” Mythra shouted. “Not without hitting you!”</p><p>So this is how it would end.</p><p>He thought about all the people he had let down. Vandham, gramps, Tora, Zeke, Nia, Morag, Mythra, and Pyra. Aunt Corinne wouldn’t take the news well.</p><p>He struggled to break free, but it seemed to be in vain. "i'm sorry everyone" rex whispered.</p><p>The Indoline star prepared it’s finishing blow…</p><p>And was interrupted by a punch in the face. Rex shook off the star and grabbed his sword. Then he stabbed the star in the chest. The creature fell to the ground on it’s side.</p><p>“Sorry to crash the party Boy, I understand we’re a bit late!” </p><p>“Malos? What in the Blazes are you doing here!” Zeke said while dodging an attack from his sentinel… which had it’s legs cut out from under it By Mikhail.</p><p>“Thank me later.” Mikhail said. Zeke looked at Rex and Rex shrugged.</p><p>He noticed Patroka spear the sentinel Tora was fighting in the chest.</p><p>“Much thanks, lady!” Poppi said. Tora looked confused but shook his head and kept fighting.</p><p>Mythra switched to Pyra. “Malos get out of here, you can’t do anything without a weapon.” she sounded concerned.</p><p>“Heh, You think I always had Sever at my back? I’m more than capable of fighting with my fists!” </p><p>Pyra switched back to Mythra who just rolled her eyes and said “Whatever.”</p><p>A silverish streaked past them suddenly and Indoline began falling, faster than he could count.</p><p>“What the heck is that?” Rex asked Malos.</p><p>“Jin. This is his true power.” Malos stated.</p><p>Mythra raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“Alright, time to even the odds a little.” Mikhail said. Then he ran towards the docs.</p><p>Then an explosion rocked the titan. They looked over. It had been a direct hit to the palace from a titan warship.</p><p>“Jin!” Malos shouted.</p><p>Jin stopped next to them. He was wearing a black outfit and had wingish things coming out of his legs “On it.” Jin said</p><p>Then he went towards the palace.</p><p>Rex had a feeling this would be a looong day.</p><hr/><p><br/>Morag’s Pov</p><p>They had just escaped from the palace. Then it had taken a hit from a titan weapon.</p><p>“Tha can’t be good!” Nia said.</p><p>“Run!” Brighid shouted.</p><p>They began to run at full speed away from the palace, Indoline hot on their tail.</p><p>Anyone Indoline got in her way was cut down.</p><p>Then a sentinel stopped in their path.</p><p>These things were annoying. They were being dropped onto the titan, from Indoline dropships.</p><p>“Shall we turn around?” Niall asked.</p><p>“Too late for that!” Dromarch said as Indoline troops surrounded them.</p><p>“Brighid!” Morag shouted, and threw her a sword.</p><p>“Right!” Brighid nodded as she caught it.</p><p>They prepared to defend themselves as the Indoline closed in.</p><p>“This doesn’t look good. Ya bastards want some? Come an get it!” Nia said.</p><p>Aegaeon scowled and growled.</p><p>A streak of silver flew past. All the soldiers were cut down.</p><p>“What?” Aegaeon said</p><p>Then the streak stopped moving…</p><p>“Jin?” Brighid said confused.</p><p>“You look like you could use a hand.” he said.</p><p>“Oi what’s with ta getup?” Nia said.</p><p>“Not sure about that myself. It appears when I use my more powerful abilities” Jin responded.</p><p>“you’re supposed to be in a cell…” Morag said.</p><p>“And you’re supposed to be preparing for a coming invasion. Maybe I don’t want to see you fail so easily.”</p><p>Morag clenched her fist. She was about to retort when Aegaeon spoke up “Fight now, fight each other later.”</p><p>“Well put Aegaeon.” Niall said.</p><p>Jin nodded and pointed his sword at the sentinel.</p><p>“Fine. but we will talk about this.” she said.</p><hr/><p><br/>Mikhail’s pov.</p><p>He had made a fairly clear shot to the Monoceros. </p><p>As he walked into the control room he smiled.</p><p>“Hey baby. Sorry, Daddy left you unaccompanied. Let’s get you started.”</p><p>He began firing the engines.</p><p>“Starting up blade bots!”</p><p>They didn’t have many on the Monoceros, most were on the Marsanes, but they could take out lots of stars with what they had. Not all of them, but a lot of them. </p><p>Launching 6. Placing the other 6 on standby.</p><p>He heard Malos through the comms “Hey Mik, we’re gonna need a pickup.” </p><p>“On it.” so Indol would take Mor Ardain… that inquisitor was going to be a pain, he could see it now. Something told him someone was going to have to knock her out if she refused to leave.</p><p>“Ah well, that’s Jin’s problem.”</p><hr/><p><br/>Malos’s Pov</p><p>“Come on! let’s get going!” Malos shouted. He could see blade bots flying over their heads and fighting the stars. That would buy them time.</p><p>“Are we really going to leave Mor Ardain to Indol?” Mythra shouted at him.</p><p>“You got any better ideas, Miss Siren?” Malos said sarcastically.</p><p>“Hey you know what would happen if I did that!”</p><p>“It’s going to sink sooner or later. Best not to have Indol have it!” honestly what did she think would happen.</p><p>Rex spoke up. “Wait… are you saying you want to kill the titan?”</p><p>“It would save us time later.” Akhos said.</p><p>“And what about the people who can’t evacuate?” Zeke shouted.</p><p>Malos paused. Jin wouldn’t like it.</p><p>“Fine. but don’t say I didn’t warn you when Amalthus uses this against us!”</p><p>Mythra rolled her eyes.</p><p>They were almost to the dock. it was a bloodbath. Ardainans and Indoline alike mangled on the side of the road. And they were still fighting.</p><p>“All this because of Amalthus. That man… how could he do something like this?” Zeke said</p><p>Malos laughed. “So you believed his act then? Amalthus has always been like this. He never changes.” he said.</p><p>“Maybe so but neither do you.” mythra said.</p><p>“What am I doing here then?”</p><p>“Poppi think Mal-Mal make good point!” </p><p>Malos raised an eyebrow at Mal-Mal then shrugged it off.</p><p>Mythra scoffed. “Kids.”</p><p>He laughed.</p><p>“Hey If you two are done arguing, we have a titan to get away from. Like as In NOW!” Patroka said.</p><p>“Yeah, thanks captain obvious.” Akhos said.</p><p>They turned a corner and Mythra tripped.</p><p>“Mythra!” Rex shouted.</p><p>He saw her raise her head. A star had gotten through and was diving towards her.</p><p>“Hey look out You idiot!” He shoved her out of the way, and was grabbed by the star. It took off, holding him in the air.</p><p>he struggled to break free from It’s claws. And then it started to dive towards the ground. It put him in the way at the last second and dragged him across the ground. “AHHHHH!” </p><p>Oh holy Morytha that was painful! The star went up and then started back down for another ramming, going straight down.</p><p>Suddenly the sky above him glowed. </p><p>Siren.</p><p>The beam hit the star. He was given a slight burn. That wasn’t the problem though.</p><p>He was falling. Mythra had good aim. That was for sure.</p><p>A blade bot grabbed him. It sure was a good thing they had ordered those. It lowered him back down to the ground.</p><p>Poppi looked at it curiously as it took back off.</p><p><em>“And here I thought you wanted me dead.”</em> he thought to Mythra.</p><p>Her eyes widened.</p><p>He heard Pyra think,<em> “wait how did you… what?”</em></p><p>“Thanks.” he said, smirking.</p><p><em>“So you can do that. We will have words later.”</em> Mythra thought.</p><p>“Don’t mention it.” she said.</p><p><em>“I don’t doubt it.”</em> he thought.</p><p>The Monoceros pulled up next to them, and a hatch opened.</p><p>“What are you people standing around for, get in!” Mik shouted through the ship’s speakers.</p><p>Right. Boarding.</p><p>“Come on!”</p><p>As they stepped in the ship, Mik spoke up over the intercom. “That everyone?”</p><p>“No, We’re still waiting on Jin, the emperor, the inquisitor, and Nia. as well as their blades of course”</p><p>The noppon was ogling at every part of the ship. Made sense when you considered the kid had made Poppi.</p><p>Malos made his way to the cockpit ignoring the look he was receiving from </p><p>“Hey Mik?” Jin spoke up over the intercom.</p><p>“We read you Jin.” Mik said. Malos walked into the cockpit. Mik was at the controls.</p><p>“What do you need Jin?” Malos asked.</p><p>“We need a-” Jin was cut off.</p><p>“EY ARSEHOLES GET YER ARSES DOWN HERE, NOW!” Nia shouted through Jin’s Com.</p><p>“Oh joy we’re picking her back up.” Akhos said walking in behind them.</p><p>“Sounds like they have a situation.” Malos said.</p><p>“Routing the Monoceros towards their location.” Mik said.</p><p>Jin sure drew trouble wherever they went. Though all of them did sooo.</p><p>“Heh that’s nothing new for him. Same old Jin.” annnd he had never closed the connection with Mythra. Eh. best not to make her mad. So he’d leave it open for now.</p><p>“Heard that!” </p><p>He was surprised at the lack of animosity in her inner voice.</p><hr/><p>Jin’s Pov</p><p>Jin had a headache. He would have to rest later.</p><p>Even moving at the speed of light there was only so much he could do against the Indoline. </p><p>There were just too many of them. And he was beginning to tire.</p><p>The Monoceros was nearby, but it wasn't close enough for them to make a break for it yet.</p><p>He saw an Indoline monk running toward him and prepared to strike. He reached his blade up to block the spear and flattered. He doubled back in pain.</p><p>Not again.</p><p>“Look out!” he heard the emperor shout. The boy leaped in front of him and Aegaeon’s eyes widened.</p><p>The spear sunk into the boy’s chest.</p><p>“MAJESTY!” the inquisitor shouted.</p><p>“What’s this?” said the Indoline shocked. The Indoline was then cut down by Aegaeon, who then <br/>yanked out the spear.</p><p>“You… saved me.”</p><p>“I did. Please… help my people. Save… them.” Hugo would have been proud.</p><p>The boy fell to the ground.  His eyes closed</p><p>The inquisitor approached “majesty.” she whispered deathly calm.</p><p>“I have… failed you.” Aegaeon let out one final breath and receded to his core.</p><p>Jin looked at Nia. He knew she could save the boy, but he did not know if she would. She was preoccupied with Indoline at the moment.</p><p>“MAJESTY, NO!” </p><p>Brighid pocketed Aegaeon’s core sadly, and stood next to Morag who collapsed to the ground.</p><p>She held the boy in her arms and shouted “NIALLLLL!” the boy’s name. The fact that she was referring to him by name showed just how much she cared, considering her usual formalities.<br/>Jin forced himself up. It didn’t matter how much pain he was in. the boy had asked him to save his people. And that included the boy himself. He leaned on his sword.</p><p>“I’LL KILL YOU ALL!” Morag shouted.</p><p>He saw her seething with rage blue fire rolling straight off Brighid’s swords. She stabbed one in the chest, decapitated another. She was screaming in rage.</p><p>Jin walked towards Nia, who was fighting one last Indoline. Morag had slaughtered most of the rest, and was in the process of killing the last few.</p><p>“Nia. I can handle this.” Jin said.</p><p>“Like ell ya can!” she dodged the spear and he knocked the spear out of the Indoline’s hand. She continued. “Don’t think I aven't noticed you stumbli’n”</p><p>“You’re the only one that can help him Nia.”<br/>The Indoline tried to punch Jin, and he stabbed him in the chest.</p><p>“You know… you know... I can’t… I just...” Nia stopped talking, deep in thought.  She was looking at the ground sadly.</p><p>Dromarch spoke “My lady, you cannot.”</p><p>She looked up.</p><p>“You… you’re right Jin. I have to do something. cover me.”</p><p>Jin nodded. He saw the Monoceros approaching them. </p><p>Nia began to glow as she ran towards the boy.</p><hr/><p><br/>Niall’s pov</p><p>Darkness… it was so… peaceful.</p><p>A glow appeared behind him.</p><p>“Hello. You’re Niall right?” he heard a familiar voice, and turned around.</p><p>It was Fan La Norne. That could only mean...</p><p>“Am I dead?” Niall asked. He couldn’t leave Morag to deal with everything herself.</p><p>“Well… not exactly… you see your life hasn’t fully faded yet. It seems someone  is trying to pull you back from the brink.”</p><p>“So… where are we then?”</p><p>“A place where the recently deceased go to. I came here to talk, because I know you’re with Jin.”</p><p>“Yes. I jumped into the way of a spear. That was how I… is it… death?”</p><p>“Seeing as how someone  is bringing you back I would say no. you’ll probably awaken soon.”</p><p>“I see.” what could bring the dead back to life…</p><p>“I need you to pass a message along.”</p><p>“Yes, of course. what is it?”</p><p>“Tell Rex… to go to Tantal.”</p><p>“What’s in tantal?” </p><p>“Something they will need to reach Elysium. And they must reach it. For Amalthus is also trying to get there. He cannot succeed.”</p><p>“I understand.” why could Amalthus want to go there</p><p>“Thank you… oh before I forget, tell Mythra and Jin nobody blames them for what happened inTorna.”</p><p>He nodded. Light began to surround him. She waved goodbye.</p><p>His vision went white.</p><hr/><p><br/>As his vision began clear he opened his eyes. He wasn’t sure when had closed them. He could hear the sounds of fighting.</p><p>There was either surrounding him. He saw a pair of hands and turned his head. Then gasped. </p><p>“You’re…”  a flesh-eater went unspoken. The girl Nia was a flesh-eater?</p><p>“You’re gonna be just fine.” Nia said calmly.</p><p>Wait where was Morag.</p><p>Then he saw her. Brighid’s swords were each in the chest of an Indoline monk…  both were burning. </p><p>She saw him and gasped then ran over. She stopped only for a moment when she saw Nia then kept going.</p><p>“It’s a miracle.” Brighid said.</p><p>“How?” Morag asked.</p><p>“It’s the one good thing that came out of… this.” Nia said and pointed to her core. Then she changed back to the form she normally was as light rolled over her.</p><p>Morag hugged him. It was rare for her to show emotion, it made him happy, and sad to see how much his close encounter with death had affected her.</p><p>“Thank you Nia… I can never repay you.” Morag said.</p><p>“Ey don’t mention it. Let’s just say ya owe me one.”</p><p>Jin walked up to them. “I hate to cut this short but… we have to go. Now.”</p><p>Morag let go of him and nodded.</p><p>“Ere you get on dromarch.” Nia said to him.</p><p>“Are you sure?” Niall asked. He didn’t want to violate the blade’s privacy.</p><p>“I would be honored to carry you sir.” Dromarch said, then he laid down on the ground so Niall could get on. Nia got on behind him.</p><p>“I’ll clear a path ahead.” Jin said. Then he raced off in front of them.</p><p>“I suppose Brighid and I should guard our flank.” Morag said. Dromarch began running after Jin.</p><p>Morag and Brighid each had a sword in their hand and knocked down anyone behind them. They could see Jin moving anything in their way and taking down Indoline soldiers. It seemed the stars had completely destroyed the city. There were fires everywhere.</p><p>“So this is how the empire dies. I have failed my people.” he whispered.</p><p>“You haven’t failed yet. Chin up now, we’ll get out of this.” Nia said,</p><p>“I hope you’re right.”</p><p>They were approaching the ship.</p><p>“Almost there!” Morag shouted, running beside them.</p><p>A ramp lowered to the ground. Malos was in the doorway. “Come on you people we don’t have all day!” he shouted.</p><p>Siren was still firing on Urayan ships, but Indoline backup had arrived. The titan, as much as he hated to even think it was lost.</p><p>Jin was the first up the ramp, and was soon followed by Dromarch carrying him and Nia, Morag and Brighid were last.</p><p>Jin collapsed as soon as he got in the doorway, and change back into his normal form.</p><p>“He needs to get to the med bay.” Malos said.</p><p>Niall took one last look at MorArdain. Morag did the same. The city was burning to the ground. Ardainian, Indoline, and a few Urayan soldiers were dead all through the city, as were a few civilians who weren't so lucky. The palace was completely deserted. Morag squeezed his hand. </p><p>And he cried. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>HOLY HELL THAT TOOK WAY LONGER TO WRITE THEN IT WAS SUPPOSED TOO. I’m so so sorry for the lack of updates. </p><p>So to recap. Mor Ardain’s titan has been lost. Most of the citizens have evacuated to gormot, but the army has been decimated, meaning only a handful of soldiers survived. Nia’s true form has been seen by Morag,Brighid and Niall. I tried to put Nia healing in Niall because he was just kinda there. Sorry if it felt too forced. I also had the idea that maybe Niall could talk to haze if on the verge of death.</p><p>That’s a wrap for this chapter. Next chapter we go to tantal </p><p>Random fact: russia invented the space station, the satellite, put the first man in space, and put the first man made object on another planet (venus) the united states only made it to the moon first. I’d say russia won the first space race.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Destination set</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It's chapter 8 HALFWAY BABY! Honestly, i'm disappointed because I probably won't be able to finish this before summer break which I may not be able to work on this during. I will do my best to finish this but I make no promise towards when it will be finished. Without further ado please enjoy chapter 8 and feel free to leave a comment when you've finished reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mikhail's pov</p><p>He had lost all 6 blade bots in the battle. It was a good thing he had put 6 on standby in case of an attack, because otherwise they would have lost the entire last shipment. They had docked with the Monoceros</p><p>"um... excuse Tora? You Mikhail, yes?" it was the nopon.</p><p>"Yeah that's my name, don't wear it out. What do you want?" he didn't really have anything better to do right now. He could entertain the kid for now.</p><p>"You see… Tora was wondering… Tora see artificial blades earlier. Tora curious about them." ah yeah that's right they had been at the factory, Mikhail remembered.</p><p>"So what do you want to know then, kid?"</p><p>"You see Tora's father forced to make artificial blades for Bana."</p><p>Ah that would explain a few things.</p><p>"Ah yeah that guy. He was a real pain in the ass to deal with but we needed the artificial blades."</p><p>"Tora want know why!"</p><p>"Why did we need them? indol has an army. We don't. We needed something to combat them with." Mik said.</p><p>The nopon frowned. "Artificial blades for companionship not war!" he shouted.</p><p>"You take what you can get, kid. Besides these artificial blades aren't like yours. They only follow orders. They don't have much comprehension of the world."</p><p>The noppon flapped his wings. "You not getting it."</p><p>Mikhail sighed. "And I probably won't kid, just. Stay away from them ok?"</p><p>"Fine. but tora not like you."</p><p>How horrible. A nopon didn't like him. Whatever would he do? Mik rolled his eyes.</p><hr/><p>Malos's pov</p><p>He had just left</p><p>Then he felt metal tap his shoulder and turned around. It was Poppi.</p><p>"Oh hey kid what's up?"</p><p>"Poppi wonder if friend need help?" friend hu? That was… nice to hear.</p><p>"Not at the moment kid. Shouldn't you be with your driver?" he asked</p><p>"He busy obsessing over ship." she replied.</p><p>"Tora's checking out the ship? That sounds like him." he heard Pyra in his head.</p><p>Malos clicked his tongue. Ah engineers. Mik wouldn't like him poking around.</p><p>Malos had a question though.</p><p>"Hey um, bra- kid." he had almost called her a brat. He didn't want to make the kid upset.<em> "aw that's cute, big mighty Malos is friends with Poppi."</em> Mythra made fun of him. he just ignored her. "Why did The nopon build you anyway?"</p><p>Poppi tilted her head. "Poppi made because masterpon cannot resonate with core crystals. Also for services."</p><p>Services hu? He was going to have to have a talk with that noppon.</p><p>"<em>Yeah Tora's pretty disgusting sometimes."</em> and there was Mythra with her 2 bronze. (cents arn't a thing in alrest so I made due.) <em>"I heard that!"</em></p><p>
  <em>"Yeah and I can hear your thoughts on Rex."</em>
</p><p>After that she got quiet.</p><p>"We should probably go get your driver before he drives someone insane.</p><p>"Sound like something masterpon do." they started walking towards the cockpit.</p><p>"What do you mean?"</p><p>"Masterpon… not the greatest at socializing. He smart, but also big dum dum."</p><p>Made sense. The brat was still just a kid after all.</p><p>They walked into the cockpit, and saw mik and the noppon arguing.</p><p>"Tora tell you that ship is amazing, but you no let Tora peek at wiring." the Nopon said.</p><p>Mik sighed. " Like I told you, I don't want you poking around."</p><p>"IT ONLY PEEK!" the kid shouted.</p><p>"Ugh brats. He's being a little shit." Malos said.</p><p>Poppi walked up to tora and picked him up.</p><p>"Ah what is poppi doing put tora down!" the brat said.</p><p>"Masterpon is being rude." Poppi walked out of the room carrying a struggling Tora.</p><p>"Thanks." Mik said as she walked out.</p><p>"That brat had it coming." Malos said. "Sneaking suspicion he's a perv."</p><p>"He does seem to be about that age." Mik said.</p><p>"Still. It's no excuse for something so… wrong"</p><p>"Have you seen Mythra?" Mikhail said jokingly.<em> "WHAT!"</em> Malos winced. Yeah Mik was going to</p><p>have some regrets later.</p><p>"Hey Mik?"</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>"Mythra can hear me and I can hear her. So maybe don't."</p><p>Mik sighed and lowered his head.</p><p>"Get some rest Malos. You're going to need it."</p><hr/><p>Jin's pov</p><p>The pod door opened.</p><p>Architect above, he had overdone it. Again.</p><p>He looked up and saw Nia looking at Lora and Haze. Dromarch was laying next to her.</p><p>"I don't know how I didn't notice the resemblance." she said.</p><p>Jin walked up next to her and looked at them. It was kind of eerie looking at them even after all this time. Lora had definitely been Haze's first driver. There was no real explanation for just how much she had imprinted on her though.</p><p>Jin decided to think about something else, before his thoughts could get dark.</p><p>He turned to face her. "You chose to save the kid." he said.</p><p>She turned her head towards him. "Yeh I did. What's it tah you."</p><p>He chuckled. "Nothing. It's just good to see you overcome your fears."</p><p>"Oi if you breath one word of this to anyone-!"</p><p>Dromarch stood then. "My lady, please don't yell."</p><p>"Put a cork in it, Dromarch."</p><p>Dromarch did the closest thing he could to a frown. (cats can't frown.)</p><p>Jin sighed. Some things never changed. Most things for that matter.</p><p>Nia looked down, then looked back at him. "If she could see you now I wonder what she would think. Your driver I mean."</p><p>Jin often wondered that himself. It had been his greatest doubt for 500 years. Would she have wanted the world destroyed? Probably not. But he hadn't stopped. Not until he had gotten a wakeup call from haze.</p><p>He had the same goal as Amalthus. And that would never do.</p><p>"Maybe I don't like this world. But I remember old torna and I start to wonder. Could the world ever be like that again. Then I doubt myself. Now though. Now my goal is different. So I think maybe she's glad I'm finally trying to fix the world instead of ending it."</p><p>Nia nodded. "I see."</p><p>The door to the room opened.</p><p>It was Niall. Morag and Brighid were with him.</p><p>"Ah there you two are. I must thank you both… without either of you I would be dead." the kid</p><p>said.</p><p>"Like I said, don't mention it." Nia said.</p><p>Jin just nodded. He didn't have much in the way of a response.</p><p>Morag spoke "So Nia… you're a flesh eater then?"</p><p>Nia became noticeably uncomfortable.</p><p>Dromarch began to speak. "My lady doesn't like to talk about it… she had some very…</p><p>unpleasant experiences with her last driver."</p><p>Nia crossed her arms.</p><p>"I see." Morag said.</p><p>"How...unfortunate." Brighid said sadly.</p><p>Niall noticed the ice. "Wait isn't that… Fan La Norne?"</p><p>Jin clenched his fist."Her name was Haze. But yes."</p><p>"Oh right. Sorry I didn't mean to-" Niall apologized.</p><p>"It's fine. Just try not to make that mistake again." Jin said.</p><p>The boy continued to speak. "Thank you for your graciousness. This reminds me. You remember when I was near death of course."</p><p>Jin nodded. Nia tilted her head.</p><p>"Yeah what's it to ya?" Nia asked.</p><p>"Apparently he had some sort of near-death encounter with Fa- I mean… Haze." Morag said.</p><p>Near-death encounter? This sounded interesting. It would make sense since the boy was essentially dead already.</p><p>"Well? don't keep us in suspense!" Nia said</p><p>"What exactly did she say?"</p><p>"I know where we need to go. There's something Rex will need to reach the world tree in Tantal. She said Amalthus's endgame is to reach the tree so we need to get there first." Niall said.</p><p>Morag spoke. "That we doesn't include you Niall. You're staying in Tantal."</p><p>Jin looked at her and raised an eyebrow.</p><p>"But… I have to do something!" Niall said.</p><p>"Niall I can't risk you getting hurt. Tantal is the safest place for you right now." Morag responded.</p><p>He sighed defeated. Niall clearly knew better than to argue with his sister.</p><p>Niall looked at Jin.</p><p>"She also told me to tell you, and Mythra that nobody blames you for what happened in Torna."</p><p>Nobody blamed him? Why? He had failed them all.</p><p>"I… I don't…" he didn't understand. Was Haze just lying to make him feel better?… No that couldn't be. "thank you. Thank you for telling me this. I'll tell Mikhail to set a course for Tantal.</p><p>We're taking the Monoceros."</p><p>Niall nodded.</p><p>"I'll go tell tha others to be prepared to leave tomorrow." Nia said.</p><p>It was getting late.</p><p>"Tell them we'll launch in the morning. You all need to be well-rested." Jin said</p><p>"Got it. Come on then Dromarch." Nia and Dromarch then ran out of the room.</p><p>"Go get some rest kid. I'm sure you're gonna need it. Politics aren't fun." he said to Niall.</p><p>Niall nodded and walked out. Morag followed him.</p><p>Brighid stayed behind.</p><p>"It's been a while." she said.</p><p>"Indeed it has. Haven't seen you in 70 years." he responded</p><p>"My driver passed on shortly after we battled last."</p><p>"Journal huh. I suppose you want to know something."</p><p>"I do. Can I trust my journals?"</p><p>"Would you believe me if I told you no?"</p><p>"Probably not. But it would still be nice to know."</p><p>To tell or not to tell. well he hadn't tracked down her and Aegaeon's journals for nothing.</p><p>"The last time I read them was 25 years ago. To date they've never been edited… though a few pages are missing it's generally nothing major."</p><p>She opened her eyes. She looked furious.</p><p>"YOU READ THEM?!"</p><p>"At least you can trust them. Unless Niall's father was a dick. Somehow I don't see that being a reality. Then again he did concur Gormot. You're the same as you were then"</p><p>She glared at him for a few seconds closed her eyes and with her fists clenched walked out of the room.</p><p>Jin sighed and looked at Lora. "Well she may not appreciate it. But at least she knows her word hasn't been compromised."</p><p>Not like so many blades Amalthus has compromised.</p><p>Time to get to the cockpit. Mik was going to yell at him.</p><hr/><p>Elysium dream.</p><p>Mythra's pov</p><p>It was night, and Nia had ordered them all to get some rest before the trip that they had to take. though she hadn't told them where.</p><p>Pyra was sitting next to her tree, as usual.</p><p>"I wonder what we'll find when we get there." Pyra said. "Elysium I mean." she clarified.</p><p>Mythra thought for a moment. "I'm sure it will make rex happy… I wonder if father will listen to our request."</p><p>"Hopefully Rex will be able to live with it." Pyra said. "Are you going to let Malos in?"</p><p>"I… you let him in. I… can't."</p><p>"You're sure?"</p><p>Mythra nodded.</p><p>A cloud of dark either appeared not far from where rex had met them. Malos stepped out of it.</p><p>"Ah Elysium. Or at least your memory of it. I lost access to mine when you almost killed me back in the day."</p><p>Mythra sighed. "This better not go like the last time you were here. Choose your words wisely Malos. I could hurt you so badly you'd feel it in real life here."</p><p>Malos looked at Pyra "Is she always like this, or is this just how she greets me?"</p><p>Pyra shrugged. Mythra glared at her.</p><p>"Anyway. We need to talk." Pyra said. She sounded annoyed.</p><p>Mythra walked towards him.</p><p>"Malos. You know I still hate you."</p><p>"Glad to know you care about your brother so much partner."</p><p>Mythra had enough.</p><p>CRACK!</p><p>She punched him in the face.</p><p>"Yeah I probably deserved that."</p><p>Crack!</p><p>The gut this time.</p><p>"And that."</p><p>CRACK!</p><p>And the crotch.</p><p>"AHHHHG. Dammit Mythra."</p><p>"You deserve it. You said it yourself."</p><p>Pyra put her hand on her shoulder. "Mythra. Hitting him won't change things. You told me you wouldn't stop me."</p><p>"And what if I changed my mind?"</p><p>Malos interrupted "Hang on you're saying you're going to… let her fix my core... why?"</p><p>Mythra clenched her fist. "We need as much help as we can get, and without a blade you're pretty useless. Don't get an ego about it. Or I'll put you in your place again."</p><p>"Noted."</p><p>Pyra walked up to him. "This is likely going to hurt." she said.</p><p>"Bring it on sister."</p><p>Mythra noticed Pyra smile slightly.</p><p>Whatever. She could care less. She turned her back away.</p><p>There was a bright light behind her. Nope not turning around.</p><hr/><p>Brighid's pov.</p><p>The girls had been given a room and the guys had been given a room. Morag was consoling her</p><p>brother somewhere. Nia was sleeping in her old room, with Dromarch, which meant they had Mythra, and Pandoria in the room right now. Apparently they were going somewhere in the morning. Pandoria had gotten excited when Nia told her.</p><p>She noted that down in her jurnal. She was trying to read through them to make sure there were no tears she had missed anywhere. She needed to make sure Jin hadn't changed anything.</p><p>She had also added that she had given Niall Aegaeon's core. He had been very relieved to know it hadn't been left behind in the heat of the moment.</p><p>She noticed a light on the other side of the room. Mythra changed into Pyra and her core began to glow. She was still asleep though.</p><p>Strange, she thought. She noted it down.</p><hr/><p>Prya's POV</p><p>Mythra would never forgive Malos. But at least she was letting her heal him.</p><p>"You're sure about this?" Malos asked. She nodded, and either began flowing into his core from</p><p>her hand.</p><p>Suddenly they were surrounded by darkness.</p><p>"This is your mind isn't it?" She asked.</p><p>He nodded.</p><p>She saw a flash of his memories go by.</p><p>Malos being awakened.</p><p>Him leaving Amalthus.</p><p>The destruction of Torna.</p><p>Him waking up afterward.</p><p>Him finding Jin in an alleyway.</p><p>Him and Jin finding Mikhail in a cell.</p><p>Jin introducing him to Akhos and Patroka.</p><p>The awakening of Sever.</p><p>Her being awakened by Rex.</p><p>Nia's betrayal. (of course, that would appear but not meeting Nia.)</p><p>Sever's death from his perspective. (he had had a decent relationship with the blade which was an achievement with Malos.)</p><p>And through it all a consistent flow of self-loathing, and hatred for the world.</p><p>She opened her eyes. She hadn't realized she had closed them.</p><p>Malos's core was repaired.</p><p>She frowned. "What was that?"</p><p>He smirked. "Well, now you know my life story. When I was planning to drain you… sorry about that by the way… I had a feeling I would see your memories. I didn't expect you to see mine."</p><p>"Probably because i'm interfacing with your core rather than you interfacing with mine. Apology accepted."</p><p>The darkness faded and they were back in Elysium.</p><p>"OH HOLLY ARCHITECT THERE YOU TWO ARE. I SWEAR I TURN MY BACK FOR ONE SECOND AND YOU BOTH DISAPPEAR!"</p><p>Pyra sighed. Mythra was shouting as usual. She and Malos had that much in common.</p><p>Malos just started laughing hysterically.</p><p>"What are you laughing about?!" Mythra demand.</p><p>"You just… heh… can't make up your mind can you? One second you hate me and then the</p><p>next…" Malos was interrupted by a punch to the gut. Pyra winced.</p><p>"Get out." Mythra said.</p><p>"Yeah yeah I'm going, I'm going.</p><p>Malos walked a few feet away from Mythra and then vanished in a cloud of either.</p><p>"He's such an asshole. I don't know why I even let you help him." Mythra said.</p><p>Pyra sighed. Getting Mythra and Malos to talk to each other was going to be a long term project, that was for sure. Mythra understood the importance of him being around but it was going to be a whole different story in getting her and him on speaking terms. And Malos didn't like Mythra all that much either.</p><hr/><p>Malos's pov.</p><p>He woke up.</p><p>The very first thing he did was remove his chest plate.</p><p>And there it was. His core crystal. In one piece.</p><p>He felt… better. It was as if a weight that he had been carrying for years was gone.</p><p>Amalthus's influence was still there, but now he didn't have to be in constant physical pain in addition to emotional pain.</p><p>It was nice…</p><p>He looked out the window. Sure enough, it was day already. The data transfer must have taken a while.</p><p>"Ugh. morning already? Fine, I'll get up."</p><p>He got off his bed, and walked out the door.</p><p>As an afterthought he sent out a message.</p><p>Pyra's pov.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>"MORNING PARTNER!"</em>
</p><p>She shot up off the bed.</p><p>Brighid raised an eyebrow at her and returned to the task of waking up Morag.</p><p>"Architect damnit Malos" Pyra whispered.</p><p><em>"Five more minutes."</em> and there was Mythra. Wait.</p><p>Why was she out and not Mythra?</p><p>Mythra chimed in. <em>"hmm...Probably something to do with you fixing His core. Don't mind me, I'll just go into a rest cycle." it was fairly noticeable that she had left out Malos's name.</em></p><p>"-yra? PYRA!" Brighid yelled her name. She had zoned out.</p><p>"Hm? Oh sorry I um… what is it? That you need?" she asked awkwardly.</p><p>"Pandoria told me to tell you that you need to go to the boarding area. I'll be there shortly. I have… other duties here."</p><p>"Thanks. And Brighid?"</p><p>"Yes?"</p><p>"I'm… so sorry. I… don't really know what to say, but if you need someone to talk to..." she didn't want what had happened to her to happen to Brighid. Though technically it had already. So she didn't want it to happen twice.</p><p>"Thank you for your concern Pyra." Brighid sounded… hollow. Pyra knew exactly why. She felt like she could have stopped it. It was better not to say anything unless asked though.</p><hr/><p>Jin's pov.</p><p>He had flown the Marsanes near Tantal in the middle of the night. He knew Mik had wanted them to take the Monoceros, and they would dock with Tantal in it, but they needed to get going.</p><p>The longer they waited the longer there was for Amalthus to catch up to them. So he had stayed up all night, so the others got rested without knowing the ship was moving.</p><p>This had lead to Mikhail yelling at him as soon as he had woken up. But the work was done. Now they just needed everyone in the Monoceros for surfacing.</p><p>"You're overdoing it Jin. you're going to make your condition that much worse if you keep it up!" Mik was shouting.</p><p>Jin clenched his fist "What am I supposed to do? Sit down and let Him catch up to us? You and I both know what happens then. It would be over. All of it for nothing just like everything that happened in Torna."</p><p>Mik frowned but managed to keep eye contact.</p><p>"I can't let it happen again Mikhail."</p><p>"I know you blame yourself for what happened. I blamed myself for Milton and Mythra blamed herself. It's not healthy. Morytha, you saw what happened to Mythra. You founded a terror organization to cope. I followed you because you were all I had left. I don't regret what we've done. But you can't put all the blame on yourself. We all had some fault in what happened. Everyone in Alrest did."</p><p>Jin couldn't bear to keep his gaze on Mikhail. He took his mask off. "Best to leave it here. Just in case..."</p><p>Mikhail nodded.</p><hr/><p>Zeke's pov</p><p>He was in the boarding room with the rest of the group.</p><p>He had conflicting thoughts on returning to Genbu. Nia had told him where they were going but not Rex or Tora. Pandoria had told him they were going to surface, and then she would call Genbu up.</p><p>"To Tantal we go!" he said.</p><p>Morag just gave him a sad look. Brighid clenched her fist. Niall turned away quickly. Pyra visibly cringed. Nia slapped her forehead. "You've dun' it now shellhead." at least rex and dromarch</p><p>hadn't reacted. That counted for something. right?</p><p>He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Yeah, that was probably insensitive of him. At least he had a home to go back to. Although he wasn't supposed to go back to it. Eh, rules were made to be broken.</p><p>Pandoria walked past him shaking her head.</p><p>Mikhail shouted. "Alright where's Akhos? He's holding us up."</p><p>Malos responded "He decided to stay behind, and hold the fort. Someone had to do it. Don't worry though Mik, Patroka's coming."</p><p>Mikhail jumped back and Malos started laughing. Speaking of Malos…</p><p>"So that's your core then? Very… purple." Zeke realized that may have sounded weird...er than normal.</p><p>"Uhhh… okay." Malos said. He clearly had no idea how to respond to that.</p><p>"Alright last call. Everyone ready?" Mikhail said.</p><p>"I am." Rex said. Pyra smiled.</p><p>"You betcha." Zeke said and he and Pandy posed for dramatic effect.</p><p>Morag gave a slight nod.</p><p>"Tora is ready to roll." Poppi was standing behind him.</p><p>"Just start tha damn ship already!" Nia said impatiently. Dromarch shook his head.</p><p>Jin sighed. "Just board the ship." then Jin turned around and walked up the ramp. Mik followed him up, and then Patroka. Malos waited for everyone else to board. When Pyra passed him he nodded to her, and she nodded back. He wondered what that was about.</p><p>Ah well.</p><hr/><p>Rex's pov.</p><p>The ship was rising. Apparently someone had driven the bigger ship to the area nearby Tantal in the middle of the night. Though he wasn't sure why. No time like the present to ask he guessed.</p><p>"So uh… why exactly are we going to Tantal anyway? I mean… It just kinda came out of nowhere..."</p><p>"There's something you're gonna need there, in order to get to Elysium. I'm gonna take a guess and say it's the omega fetter." Jin said.</p><p>Zeke seemed to pop up at the statement, and his eye widened "The omega fetter, how in the blazes do you know about that?"</p><p>Rex was confused.</p><p>Pyra switched to Mythra. "Wait, the Omega fetter? Why is it in Tantal?"</p><p>"The omega… feather?" Rex asked.</p><p>Malos rolled his eyes "Fetter. F-E-T-T-E-R. Feh-ter. Geze it's not that hard Brat."</p><p>Pandoria responded to Mythra's question "the omega fetter is used to control Genbu. Genbu is the Titan that Tantal is on. Only I can communicate with it though."</p><p>"I see. I don't know how Tantal ended up with the control processor for Ophion though." Mythra said.</p><p>"Um sorry to interrupt… but Tora wondering, what exactly is Ophion?" Tora asked, confused. Rex understood his confusion.</p><p>Mythra switched back to Pyra. "You remember that thing that attacked us at the world tree?" He, Tora, Nia, Poppi, Dromarch, and Gramps nodded. "Well Ophion is what you call an Artifice. Siren is also an Artifice."</p><p>Malos spoke "I used to have My own siren, and a lot of Artifices called gargoyles. However, they were destroyed in the aegis war. Mythra commanded Ophion during the aegis war, but during the war it was destroyed."</p><p>"Though apparently not beyond repair." Gramps said and flew out of rex's helmet.</p><p>"The thing's been circling the world tree for a while." Patroka said. "It's been keeping us, and a bunch of other people out. Real annoying, that thing. Not unlike Mikhail."</p><p>"I see." Pyra said.</p><p>Mik walked into the room. "We've surfaced. Now what?"</p><p>Malos looked at Pandoria. "Now we let her do her thing.</p><p>Pandoria nodded. "Got it."</p><hr/><p>Morag's pov</p><p>They were standing on top of the Monoceros. Not the greatest idea but Zeke insisted that they needed to do it, and Pandoria backed him up on it.</p><p>It was sunrise.</p><p>"Feast your eyes on this! Take it away Pandy!" Zeke shouted.</p><p>Light came out of Pandoria's core and shot into the cloud sea.</p><p>As the titan rose she heard several people gasp. She frowned. It was a bit… disheartening, to see Zeke and Pandoria going home while her home was occupied and in tatters. But it wasn't their fault that it had happened. She had no one to blame for it but herself. If she had been more thorough… best not to think about it now though.</p><p>"Quite majestic wouldn't you say?" Azurda said.</p><p>She saw Jin nod. That blade was a strange one. Flesh eaters were just like that she guessed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I am SO SO SORRY This took so long. I meant to have this done sooner but I got sick, and strangely I've started to procrastinate on this as if it were a school assignment. We're halfway done people. Sorry, this chapter was shorter than the last. I decided to just try to finish it, since it's been taking so long. There may be one more chapter coming out before summer starts, but</p><p>once it does you probably won't see another chapter until august. Sorry about that. please feel free to leave a comment. they help a lot. Whether it be input a correction or criticism, any input is great!</p><p>Oh right random facts.</p><p>Uhhhh</p><p>The Chinese space station's first module goes up this week? No that will be dated soon…</p><p>hmmm…</p><p>OH I'VE GOT IT! The confederate flag, Isn't the confederate flag. It's the confederate battle flag. The actual confederate flag is similar to the Union flag. (USA not UK, or soviets, or UAE.)</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>well, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. feedback is NEEDED. please. I really want this to go well. special thanks to JeliBelski for getting me back into fanfictions.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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